They had been traveling with a large party for mutual security
against Indians and Mormons, and so long as the journey lasted Dick
had got on fairly well. He was always ready to do odd jobs, and as
the draught cattle were growing weaker and weaker, and every pound
of weight was of importance, no one grudged him his rations in
return for his services; but when the company began to descend the
slopes of the Sierra Nevada they began to break up, going off by
twos and threes to the diggings of which they heard such glowing
accounts. Some, however, kept straight on to Sacramento, determining
there to obtain news as to the doings at all the different places,
and then to choose that which seemed to them to offer the surest
prospects of success.
Dick proceeded with them to the town, and there found himself
alone. His companions were absorbed in the busy rush of population,
and each had so much to provide and arrange for, that none gave a
thought to the solitary boy. However, at that time no one who had
a pair of hands, however feeble, to work need starve in Sacramento,
and for some weeks Dick hung around the town doing odd jobs, and
then having saved a few dollars, determined to try his luck at the
diggings, and started on foot with a shovel on his shoulders and
a few days' provisions slung across it.
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