Dusty Books, Frontier LibrarianR.T. Carr, Editor Chapter 9Successful conclusion to the rafting trip... Meeting Molly's offspring... Albert's German Spouse... A Gold hunting trip begins... My voyage was to conclude successfully, if seeming a bit uneventful after having almost met my maker in the wild Sacramento during spring runoff. I had a feeling I was not going to pass on, since my life did not flash before my eyes, as it is said to do at that moment. This is held sacred by many learned people. Of course I shall not be able to tell anyone the accuracy of this theory because I shall have already passed and it will be too late, unless I visit a spirit medium and tell them. I was focused on going after gold, losing sight for a short time of my library, which was a potential source of continuing income. I was all bound up in the golden luster of showers of nuggets. I contracted for a small fee to warehouse my barrels of books in the Werte warehouse, which was well protected by a pack of young animals Molly had provided by mating with every foreboding cur in Sacramento. When I came up the fence the first time, they hit the fence, fangs fully displayed, ready to tear me asunder if they could get through the barbed wire of the fence. There was a sudden quiet. I felt a familiar nuzzle on my hand down at my side. Molly had approached and showed them that I was a friend, in as natural a gesture as a human would make, if they did not use their tongue on one's hand. Fangs changed to wagging tails, and I was welcome whenever I approached the fence. Albert it turned out was different in another respect. He had a spouse, a rotund German woman who was the obvious apple of his eye. She was sweet, but a little rough and ready by Eastern standards. She was in charge of their local operations while 'her boyuz' as she put it were 'on da ribber'. With two of her brothers she ran the warehouse operation aided by the pack of dogs. The twins contracted with me to create a worthy wagon from found and salvaged items, there being nothing available at the moment up to my purposes and preferences. They said with some hesitation that this could take up to a month. I was delighted, since this worked into my plans perfectly. I would go for a month in the gold fields and find my fortune! I actually held it in belief, though some of the evidence was beginning to pile up considerably. I rented a good stout horse and a pack mule for my supplies, got outfitted at Stanford's store after cashing in one of my certificates from the New York Bank. I got it in gold, just out of curiousity (sic), suddenly realizing how little gold there was to make up my several hundred dollars. I vowed to become as rich as possible, leaving the remainder of my certificates uncashed. I gave one of them to the Wertes to cover the wagon. This left 6 of the $500 certificates, a fortune in everywhere but California. Following a map Alvin had presented me as a gesture of friendship, with the warning that it was only as good as the fool that made it, I was on my way. Me, my rented horse and mule, which served me so well I bought them both when I returned. I was off to seek my fortune, headed towards those Sierras which still showed tops of snow even in the by now first part of April, my library safely tucked away in Sacramento. (End of Part One)
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