Behold the bummer I An unlearned man of modest
bearing, but fathomless cheek. Or if he be a legal
or political bummer we call him brick. He, too, ma}'^
sicken you with nauseating words, or be as quarrel-
some, indolent, insolent, vicious, gambling, drink-
ing, fighting, and dandified as any member of the
Macaroni club that cursed Vauxhall gardens. This
man never did a day's work in his life, never did a
useful thing, never earned an honest dollar, never
drew an honest breath. What he eats is not his own ;
his own flesh and blood does not belong to him.
And when invited to partake, such invitation being
the ever-present hope and aim of earthly existence,
he takes from his mouth his tobacco quid, as the ser
pent vomits its venom before drinking for fear of
poisoning itself
The godless miners were not more free from super- stition than papist or puritan fanatic. Once a Texan charlatan, a tall, broad-shouldered, sallow-faced, livid- looking fellow, Fletcher by name, dropped down on Murphy's, and the worldly wise and cunning of that camp were caught as easily as mediaeval Christians. He professed to have discovered or invented a gold- ometer which would direct the possessor unfailingly to gold deposits, and enable him to trace unerringly the precious vein through all its dips and curves and angles, backing his statement by an offer to bet one hundred dollars that in ten minutes he would find a purse of gold hidden within the limits of an acre of ground. No one cared to waste time over such trifling; surely he should know of what he was talk- ing; show them where the undug gold lay, and he should have his pay. Every man there had indulged in some little pet necromancy of his own conjuring which had cost far more than this ; they could but lose. And so the Texan wizard bled them. Takintr his magical instrument, which consisted of a metal- mounted wooden pointer split at one end so as to take in the man's waist, he proceeded to the diggings be-
