But the big boom for the camp came through my old journalistic enemy, the American Flag. Word came to it somehow that I was located in the mountains back of Kern City, ostensibly engaged in mining. Straightway it gave me a terrific blast, claiming that mining was only a cloak for a new piece of deviltry I was hatching. The effect of this was that it located me for a lot of my Southern friends who really believed that I was organizing a band to fight through to Texas, and as a consequence they began to swarm into Havilah in large numbers. Nearly all my fighting men of the Chapman were among the first arrivals. Also several Northern men, fired by the word “gold,” took a chance of entering into an alleged stronghold of conspirators. They would have marched into hell, just the same, for gold. They had the same reception as anyone else. Far up in the mountains, away from strife and faction, these men mingled in perfect amity and good fellowship. It was another illustration of what I said before--that if the people had been left to settle matters in their own way there never would have been a Civil War. Chattel slavery in the South was fast dying at the root. Another decade or so would have seen its finish. And the real question of slavery was not settled at all. There have grown up other forms of slavery far more odious and soul-destroying than the mild system maintained, with very few exceptions, in the South. It was the agitators and demagogues on both sides, who never fought at all, upon whom must rest the responsibilities of our war, just the same as in nearly every other historic struggle. Strangely enough, these men are commonly canonized, instead of being held up to the execration of mankind. Havilah was fast becoming a large proposition. Its trade was eagerly sought for and pack trains of supplies were arriving daily. But the more it grew, the louder and longer raved the American Flag about the band of outlaws in the mountains, headed by the piratical Harpending. So specific were the denunciations that at length they seriously attracted the notice of the Government. Finally a detachment of troops stationed at Visalia was dispatched to drive us out. We had timely notice of this kindly intention. I had been recognized as a sort of leader, partly because of my position as the largest owner of the district, partly because of the newspaper notoriety, which had given me the character of a daring adventurer--the character that impresses the rough natures of a mining camp. All the miners were called together. Lookouts were stationed down the canyon to give notice of the approach of a hostile force. I had decided to adopt Albert Sidney Johnston’s strategy and try the moral effect of a surprise.