him out a mining-claim notice, which he at once posted on the tree as directed. There was not the trace of a "color" anywhere near that tree. In fact, it was evident to the eye of a professional miner at a glance that gold would never be found there. But the green-horn, in blissful ignorance, pulled off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and went in at once to dig a prospecting hole. The party in the gulch below saw him gradually sink down into the earth and disappear, as hour after hour he plied the pick and shovel with sturdy arm and determined will, and many were the "winks and nods, and wreathed smiles," to say nothing of broad grins and hearty guffaws which went around at his expense. About four p. m. they heard a shout from the prospecting hole in which he had disappeared, and a moment later he came out with a bound like a deer, and yelling like a madman, came down the face of the hill twenty feet at a jump, holding high above his head a nugget, or "chispa," of pure gold, weighing over $900. All was excitement in the camp in a minute. The chispa was examined and its character decided at once. Then they examined the hole, and decided that he had struck upon a pocket, or seam, of decayed quartz, where the gold set free had not been washed, and had remained undisturbed in its place. Such pockets often paid enormously. A lucky Irishman once found one near where the Catholic Orphan Asylum now stands, on the hill above the town of Grass Valley, took out a wheelbarrow-load of gold in a few hours, went raving mad over his suddenly acquired wealth, and died in the State Insane Asylum.
