In the present story an attempt has been made, not only to tell an interesting tale, but to interest the younger generation in this remarkable and dramatic phase of our national development, possibly the most picturesque and dramatic period in the history of the nation: to picture to them how these knights of the pick and the shovel lived and worked, how they found and wrested the gold from the hard hand of nature, and to give to them something of an idea of the hardships and the perils they were obliged to endure while doing it. The period was a dramatic period, crowded with unusual and startling happenings, as far removed as possible from the quiet commonplaceness and routine life of the average boy and girl of to-day; and the reader is cautioned to remember this--if disposed at any time to think the incidents narrated in the present tale too improbable or too startling to have ever happened--that they could not happen to-day, even in California; but they might have all happened then and there in California. The author is one of those who believe that the boys and the girls of to-day should know something of the foundation stones on which the superstructure of our national greatness rests, and how and with what toils and perils they were laid; and, it is in the hope that the reading of this story will interest them in this, the laying of the great corner-stone in the upbuilding of the West, that this tale of the Discovery of Gold in California has been written. No nation can afford to forget its builders. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. El Feroz II. Death of the Miner III. The Skin Map IV. At the Conroyal Rancho V. Off for the Gold-Mines VI. The Sign of the Two Red Thumbs VII. Caught in the Flood VIII. Accused of Murder IX. The Testimony of Bill Ugger X. The Missing Button XI. An Unexpected Witness XII. Hammer Jones XIII. Explanations XIV. The Luck of Dickson XV. Around the Supper Table XVI. Unexpected Company XVII. Pockface Again XVIII. Story of the Great Discovery XIX. Some Exciting Moments XX. Robbed XXI. Pedro XXII. The Mystery of the Tent XXIII. On the Shore of Goose Neck Lake XXIV. In Lot's Canyon XXV. The Cave of Gold XXVI. The Catastrophe XXVII. Home ILLUSTRATIONS "You lie!" and the hard fist landed squarely on the man's chin The skin map "You can turn your horses around and ride back the way you came" "Is there any! just look there! and there! and there!" Bud bent and stretched his free hand down to Marshall "It is gold! it is gold! and enough of it to make us all rich beyond our fondest dreams" The Cave of Gold CHAPTER I EL FEROZ "Whoa!"--"whoa!" With quick jerks on their bridle reins Thure Conroyal and Bud Randolph pulled up their horses and listened shiveringly.