IX THE MINING DISTRICT 237 



grass, free from snow and level, so thai we began to hope 

 that we might yet reach sonic human habitation; but we 



had hardly gone a half a mile over the bottom, when the 

 wagon sank again to above the hubs into a quagmire; the 

 now totally exhausted animals gave out, and there was 

 no alternative; we had to wait here for daylight. Hav- 

 ing unyoked the oxen and fed them some hay, we started 

 out in search of a camping place and firewood, but all 

 we found was mud, knee deep everywhere, and a little 

 half rotten wood, which we had to fish out of some pud- 

 dles. For fully half an hour we tried to kindle a fire, 

 but it was all in vain— we had to give it up, and with 

 empty stomachs and wet and chilled through and through 

 we had to seek rest as best we could. Yea, rest! The 

 moment one of us would lie down, the mud and water 

 would splash up to the right and left of him. But it was 

 of no use to grumble (as it is nowhere in California for 

 that matter). I was as ''tired as a dog" and so I re- 

 signed myself to fate, wrapped my blankets around me 

 and laid myself down. I had given up all hope of going 

 to sleep, but fatigue at last got the better of me, and I 

 fell into a sort of slumber, which, however, was anything 

 but refreshing. Wet, cold and hungry as I was, it was 

 impossible to sleep soundly, and I laid awake for hours. 

 It seemed as if that night would never come to an end! 

 With the coming of daylight, however, we were all on our 

 feet, for none of us had had any sleep to speak of. I felt 

 so stiff and chilled that I could hardly move my limbs; 

 a heavy fog— dense and cold— lay on the marshy bottom 

 of the valley. "What would I have given for a glass of 

 brandy or a cup of coffee! but neither was to be had. ( hir 

 whiskers were white with frost; our wet pantaloons were 

 frozen stiff and hard like buckskin. After considerable 

 yawning and stretching we went to work to get our 

 wagon out of the quagmire. It took us two hours to do 

 this, and then we started again slowly on our way, the 

 liiud being up to our knees. After crossing and recross- 

 ing the creek about half a dozen times we at Inst reached 

 Grass Valley at about 10 o'clock in the morning. You 



