said in a sharp tone, "That's my signature," and began to calculate
the interest; that ascertained, he paid me the full amount due. If I
remember rightly he paid me $440 in Spanish doubloons, but some of
it may have been in gold dust. If it had not been for this lucky
incident, I should have been penniless before night.

The good fortune which the Colonel then enjoyed has not always
attended him since. The greater part of his property he lost
some years afterwards, but he has always retained, and now in his
seventy-eighth year[1] still retains, great energy and vigor of
mind, and a manly independence of character, which have made him
warm friends. In all the changes of my life his name is pleasantly
associated with the payment of the note, and the timely assistance
which he thus gave me. His career as commander of the well-known
regiment of New York volunteers which arrived in California in March,
1847, and subsequently in the State, are matters of public history.

As soon as I found myself in funds I hired a room as an office at the
corner of Montgomery and Clay streets for one month for $300, payable
in advance. It was a small room, about fifteen feet by twenty. I then
put out my shingle as attorney and counsellor-at-law, and waited for
clients; but none came. One day a fellow-passenger requested me to
draw a deed, for which I charged him an ounce. He thought that too
much, so I compromised and took half an ounce. For two weeks this was
the only call I had upon my professional abilities. But I was in no
way discouraged. To tell the truth I was hardly fit for business. I
was too much excited by the stirring life around me. There was so much
to hear and see that I spent half my time in the streets and saloons
talking with people from the mines, in which I was greatly interested.
I felt sure that there would soon be occasion in that quarter for my