still hopeful miner, in the enthusiasm of the moment, stooped down and
patted a large boulder with the apostrophic "Good old gal!"
Then followed a night of jubilee, a next morning of hurried consultation
with a mining expert and speculator lured to the camp by the good
tidings; and then the very next night--to the utter astonishment of
Cedar Camp--Uncle Billy, with a draft for twenty thousand dollars in his
pocket, started for San Francisco, and took leave of his claim and the
camp forever!
*****
When Uncle Billy landed at the wharves of San Francisco he was a little
bewildered. The Golden Gate beyond was obliterated by the incoming
sea-fog, which had also roofed in the whole city, and lights already
glittered along the gray streets that climbed the grayer sand-hills.
As a Western man, brought up by inland rivers, he was fascinated and
thrilled by the tall-masted seagoing ships, and he felt a strange sense
of the remoter mysterious ocean, which he had never seen. But he was
impressed and startled by smartly dressed men and women, the passing of
carriages, and a sudden conviction that he was strange and foreign to
what he saw. It had been his cherished intention to call upon his old
partner in his working clothes, and then clap down on the table before
him a draft for ten thousand dollars as HIS share of their old claim.
But in the face of these brilliant strangers a sudden and unexpected
timidity came upon him. He had heard of a cheap popular hotel, much
frequented by the returning gold-miner, who entered its hospitable
doors--which held an easy access to shops--and emerged in a few hours
a gorgeous butterfly of fashion, leaving his old chrysalis behind him.
Thence he inquired his way; hence he afterwards issued in garments
glaringly new and ill fitting. But he had not sacrificed his beard, and
there was still something fine and original in his handsome weak face
that overcame the cheap convention of his clothes. Making his way to the
post-office, he was again discomfited by the great size of the building,
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