CHAPTER III.
THE SECRET ESCAPES.
Febkuaky, 1848.
Bkxnktt Goes to Monterey— Sees Pfister at Bekioia — 'Thebb is What WILL Beat Cual!' — Bennett Meeta Isaac HrMPUBBY at San Franoikco
— UxsrCtTESMFUL AT MONTEKEY— SiTTTER's SwIS8 TeAMSTER — ThE BoY
WiMMEu Tells Uim of the Gold — The Mother Wimmer, to Pbovk HER Boy not a Liak, Shows It — And the Teamster, Who is TniBSTr, Shows It at the Fort — Affairs at th» Mill Proceed- -as XJwsal, — Bksler's Sunday Mfj»itations — (told Found at fcirs" "Oax Ba& — Bi(;lkr W'RiThks ULs Three Friends the Secret— Who Unite with Thkm Other Three to Help Them Keep It — Three Cosulso CobOMX
— l>l?*OOVERY AT MoitMON ISLAND — ThE Mo&MON ExiT.
Occasionally instances occur where one's destiny, hitherto seemingly confined in the clouds, is let out in a Hood, and if weak, the recipient is overwhelmed and carried down the stream by it; if he be strong, and makes avail of it, his fortune is secured; in any event, it is his opportunity.
0[)p<)rtunity here presented itself in the first in- stance to a chosen dozen, none of whom appear to have taken due advantage of it. Having no realiza- tion of their situation, they left the field to after- comers, who by direct or indirect means drew fortune from it. The chief actors, Marshall and Sutter, with proj)()rtionately greater interests at stake, primarily displayed no more skill than the others in making avail of ()p|)ortunitv, the former drifting away without one successful grasp, the latter making a brief stand against the torrent, only in the end to sink amidst the ruins of his projects and belongings.
