These words were being uttered by the hero of the hour as I entered. The store was full. The usual camp-loungers, my own men, and Myers' gang were fraternizing on the basis of whisky brotherhood. Myers ordered drinks for the house every fifteen minutes, and it was obligatory on all to drink. It was, however, a cross they endured with fortitude and resignation.

My entrance caused a sudden silence. The bully was the last to see me. The gradual cessation of noisy conversation at last attracted his attention, as he stood at the bar. He turned, and, on seeing me, remarked:

"Hullo! Just in time-just had drinks all round. Come, put another nail in your coffin!"

This was spoken directly to me. His next observations, as he walked up and down the store, were aimed at me, and for the general benefit.

"I'm Jack Myers-free, white, and twenty-one. I can run alone, I can. I'm chief here. Is there any other chief? Is there any other chief in the house? Is there anybody here who won't drink with Jack Myers? Cummings, your whisky's waitin' for youdrink."

wolf to San Francisco. You think I'm afraid to fight. I'm not. I'll fight you now. Take off your three men; give me a fair show. Come along with me to the barley-field yonder, where there's no trees and the ground is level, and I'll fight you, and we'll see who's chief."

I turned to the crowd. "You men, you are Americans. Will you stand by and see fair play? I am alone herealone and, I suppose, friendless. Munse, will you be my second?"

"Yes," promptly replied Munse. "Thank you. Now, Mr. Myers, I am ready. You are a fighting-man, and can't refuse such a fair invitation. Before we leave the house we'll take another drink at my expense. Mr. Myers, I'll drink with you now." And I swallowed the liquor which had been prepared for me.

This was a turn in affairs which Myers evidently had not expected. It had been his intention, as was ever his custom in such cases, to abuse, taunt, revile, possibly to dash the liquor in my face, and thrust me from the door. Blindly, as it were, he understood that the magnetism of fear, if I may so express myself, would not only prevent any interference on the part of others,

It was a dramatic silence then which reigned in that greasy grimy store. For a moment the roar of the Tuolumne as it rushed and foamed along on its way to the sea, and the cry of a coyote on the hill above, were the only sounds heard.

"Well, now, you shall drink, or I'll set you on my knee like a baby and pour it down your throat," was his sneering remark.

"Jack Myers," said I, "I know what you want. You want to force a quarrel on me, so that you may shoot me down like a dog. You want me to turn and take water, and run back like a scared

But my unexpected stand had developed an opposing influence. It came from the men around me. It was something mysterious, silent, subtile, the working of one mind on another, the creeping forth as it were into the air of a spirit opposed to brutish tyranny, the invisible sympathy and respect for a man who dared to stand up for himself; all this concentrated and fell like a sort of blight, a damper on the hitherto invincible Myers.

"Well, gentlemen," I continued, "you will drink with me, will you not? I'm not the chief yet. I'm not going to try

and force you to drink against your wishes. But we must be quick, for we have business to attend to."

They crowded about the bar, but in silence, broken only by the clink of the glasses. Myers, whose surprise and inward wavering had been but momentary, and who perceived that even his own men regarded him curiously, now suddenly found his defense in the sneaking cunning spirit of cowardice, and said:

"Come up here, jump my claim, and then want me to fight for it, do you? You can't play that on me."

there had been considerable method in his desperation. His wonderful quickness "on the draw and the shoot" had been his secret of success. If he struck a man, it was to jump backward almost with the motion; at the same instant his right hand was drawing and cocking his revolver. He relied on a skillful sleight of hand, and used every effort to induce his victims to the commission of some act which should give him a justification for putting it in operation.

We arrived at the barley-field. On a low hill directly in the rear of the ground chosen for the encounter was the camp

This I knew would bring the climax. His hands and those of his gang went for their pistols. But the spirit of manhood was now uppermost in the rest of the crowd. Munse and a half-dozen others jumped to my side. "No-nono!" was the excited cry. "That won't do, Jack Myers. You fight this man fair!"

"Is your grave dug?" said he, falling back upon his only real courage —the spirit of intimidation and bravado. "Well, we'll adjourn to the barleyfield."

I must disclaim here any endeavor to establish a reputation for bravery. I am brave only in streaks, and they are few and far between. It required generally strong pressure to bring out what little was in me. I have passed days in mental distress before I could summon up sufficient courage to go through any trying ordeal. I have sneaked away from trivialities little lions in my path -until my despicable estimation of my self caused me to loathe myself, and yet at certain times and in certain moods of mind every trace of pusillanimity disappeared, and I could look any possibility in the face, without fear.

Myers was in a trap. This was to be his first fair stand-up fight. Hitherto

Out of the tall rank grass rose a few white head-boards, and in the light of the full moon they stood out in even more prominent ghastly relief than in the daytime. The choice of this spot was accidental. But the tallest head - board of all was that of Will Leffingwell, Myers' last victim.

The preliminaries were very simple. We stood twelve paces apart, and were to fire as the master of ceremonies counted three. I had asked Munse to stand as my second at the store merely to test his temper and that of the crowd. On the ground we dispensed with such fashionable formality.

It was but a moment given me for reflection, as we stood thus facing each other, but in that moment the silence and splendor of the night, the great ragged castellated peaks-apparently but a mile distant, in reality twenty-looking sternly down upon us, the monotonous babbling of the Tuolumne as it struggled and fretted over and through a broken dam near by, the chirping of the crick ets in the grass, the huddle of men silently regarding us, the white gravestones keeping their faithful watch and ward over the dead, the ruffian confronting me with his slouched hat, gray shirt, and dirty-white canvas pants, on his face an expression of annoyance and

vexation-all this in that moment was photographed on my brain never to be erased.

We never fired. I was not to be the "avenger of blood." The fates with their superior wisdom had decreed a more fitting punishment for Jack Myers. As the word "One" was spoken, something between a rustle and a groan was heard among the graves; the next, a tall form, clad in black, slowly arose. It clung to the pickets and surveyed the party below. The moon shone full upon the face, which seemed as white as the surrounding grave-stones. The situation was such that the eyes of everyone present necessarily fell upon the apparition, which suddenly found a voice and shrieked:

and table, and he swore at them. Men also followed him about, shaking their fists at him, threatening him with drawn weapons, gibbering, whispering in his ear at night, talking without his cabin in low tones, plotting to kill him. "They worried me some at first," said Dick. "I'm used to 'em now. Snakes, that's all; got up one night and followed a crowd on 'em way from here to Marsh's Flat. They were going to burn down the Bar. When I got to the Flat, they scooted over the tree-tops all in a body on to Pino Blanco Hill. Then I cussed, for I knew it was nothing but the snakes. Can't fool me now."

About two years previous, Dick, with the usual good luck of a drunken miner, which in California used to be pro

Myers uttered a yell of fright, dropped his pistol, which was discharged by the fall, and broke for the hills. A halfdozen other by-standers retreated in various directions. Then came a shout of laughter from the cooler of the party, as the voice again cried out:

"Don't run, boys; don't run. I'm no ghost yet! Don't you know me? I'm Clamp-old Dick Clamp-just back from Shanghai; back to see the boys."

Dick Clamp had been a resident of Swett's Bar since 1852. He had also been drunk since 1852. Concerning old Dick, men never thought of remarking, "He's drinking himself to death." Whisky seemed his natural sustenance. He had the "horrors" occasionally, but they agreed with him. He talked of birds, beasts, and creeping things around him, but went on shaking his rocker as usual, and seemed entertained by them. He would see a string of monkeys a halfmile in length following him, and regarded them as curiously as if they had not been the unnatural creations of a whiskysteeped brain. Crows and ravens fluttered into his cabin, perching on his bed

VOL. 15.-25.

river-bank, overlooked by the earlier miners, from which he had taken several hundred dollars. Returning after dark in company with Myers from Saloada—a small mining-camp, which he had visited for the purpose of exchanging his dust for coin-the latter, in one of his brutal fits of rage, had set upon old Dick and pummeled him until he became insensible. Dick was left lying upon the trail, near Rocky Point, a steep declivity bordering the river. Dick's cabin was vacant next morning and many other mornings. None troubled themselves about him; none save Myers knew that he had ever been near the Bar again since leaving it to exchange his dust. Myers naturally concluded that he had fallen into the river, which was then swollen from the melting snowbanks on the upper Sierra. Dick passed into the history of the Bar. None ever expected to see him again.

But Dick, blind and stupid from the combined effects of rum and the beating given him, had indeed slipped into the river, was carried in a very few minutes a couple of miles down-stream, eventually struggled out on the bank, and,

Our Quarter-centennial. On the 9th of September, 1875, California entered upon the twenty-fifth anniversary of her existence as a State of the American Union. During that limited period an ad. vancement was realized in material progress, in civilization, refinement, culture, and artistic development, unequaled in history. When, weeks after Congress had disposed of the question, the intelligence was received that California had been recognized as a sovereign State, her population scarcely exceeded in numbers that of the single town of Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1870; now, it approximates a million. San Francisco then was but a hamlet by the sea-side, but at present she is the third in point of commercial importance on the American continent, and must take the second rank ere the lapse of half-a-dozen years. From a mere village she has risen to a position of proud eminence, and incloses within her limits fully 260,000 souls. In 1849 this State was dependent upon the East and foreign countries for every article consumed by its people. The very houses under which we sheltered were framed and fitted abroad. What was her record on the Ist of January, 1875? California exported through San Francisco 11,000,ooo centals of wheat, besides leaving a large surplus for domestic requirements, the whole crop being 20,000,000 centals. Of gold and silver we added $85,000,000 to the circulation of the outside world; and since 1849 have exported $800,000,000 in those precious metals, exclusive of the very large amounts carried by individuals and forwarded through the mails. From 1854 to the end of 1874 our Mint coined $378,000,000. The value of our merchandise exports for 1874 amounted to $28,500,000. Instead of depending upon eastern supplies of lumber we are exporting it, in enormous quantities, to many foreign markets, and our receipts for the year above mentioned were 253,000,000 feet, all

from Pacific Coast resources. In fifteen years we recovered from the earth 2,250,000 tons of coal, largely contributing to build up and foster our manufacturing enterprises. Among the products of 1874 were 7,000,000 gallons fine native wines and 40,000,000 pounds of wool. At the commencement of 1875 the industrial classes of California had $70,000,000 gold coin standing to their credit in various savings - banks, and the banking capital of the State was $140,000,000. Real estate exchanged hands in San Francisco alone to the extent of $24,000,000, and the appraised value of personal and real property within her borders is upward of $300,000,000.

From an apparently arid, unpopulated, barren waste, California has become a land teeming with wealth and inherent power. Through her influence the State of Nevada and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona have been reclaimed from a state of nature and been made the abodes of intelligent, thriving, and progressive populations, pursuing all the arts of peace, developing the boundless resources of that vast region, and pressing forward with energetic pace toward a more advanced rank in the world's recognition. Twenty-five years ago New York was distant a month's voyage, and the great European centres could not be reached in fewer than forty or fifty days. The nations of the Orient and the isles of the Pacific were only visited occasionally at great expense of time and money. Now, New York is within six days of our homes, while regular and rapid communication has been established with nearly all other portions of the globe. The magnetic telegraph and a fine system of railways exhibit their traceries of speaking wire and commercial iron in every direction over our domain. The comparative annihilation of time and distance has given to