But, ah! I wish I might have written it much better ... or that Robert Louis Stevenson, for instance, might have done it in my stead. "Port O' Gold" is history with a fiction thread to string its episodes upon. Most of the characters are men and women who have lived and played their parts exactly as described herein. The background and chronology are as accurate as extensive and painstaking research can make them. People have informed me that my fictional characters, vide Benito, "took hold of them" more than the "real ones" ... which is natural enough, perhaps, since they are my own brain-children, while the others are merely adopted. Nor is this anything to be deplored. The writer, after all, is first an entertainer. Indirectly he may edify, inform or teach. My only claim is that I've tried to tell the story of the city that I love as truly and attractively as I was able. My only hope is that I have been worthy of the task. Valuable aid in the accumulation of historical data for this volume was given by: Robert Rea, librarian, San Francisco Public Library; Mary A. Byrne, manager Reference Department, San Francisco Public Library; John Howell and John J. Newbegin, booksellers and collectors of Californiana, for whose cheerful interest and many courtesies the author is sincerely grateful. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS I Yerba Buena. II The Gambled Patrimony. III The Gringo Ships. IV American Occupation. V An Offer and a Threat. VI The First Election. VII The Rancheros Revolt. VIII McTurpin's Coup. IX The Elopement. X Hull "Capitulates". XI San Francisco is Named. XII The New York Volunteers. XIII The "Sydney Ducks". XIV The Auction on the Beach. XV The Beginning of Law. XVI Gold! Gold! Gold! XVII The Quest of Fortune. XVIII News of Benito. XIX The Veiled Woman. XX A Call in the Night. XXI Outfacing the Enemy. XXII Shots in the Dark. XXIII The New Arrival. XXIV The Chaos of '49. XXV Retrieving a Birthright. XXVI Fire! Fire! Fire! XXVII Politics and a Warning. XXVIII On the Trail of McTurpin. XXIX The Squatter Conspiracy. XXX "Growing Pains". XXXI The Vigilance Committee. XXXII The People's Jury. XXXIII The Reckoning. XXXIV The Hanging of Jenkins. XXXV The People and the Law. XXXVI Fevers of Finance. XXXVII "Give Us Our Savings". XXXVIII King Starts the Bulletin. XXXIX Richardson and Cora. XL The Storm Gathers. XLI The Fateful Encounter. XLII The Committee Organizes. XLIII Governor Johnson Mediates. XLIV The Truce is Broken. XLV The Committee Strikes. XLVI Retribution. XLVII Hints of Civil War. XLVIII Sherman Resigns. XLIX Terry Stabs Hopkins. L The Committee Disbands. LI Senator Broderick. LII A Trip to Chinatown. LIII Enter Po Lun. LIV The "Field of Honor". LV The Southern Plot.