When Alvin Mulrady announced his intention of growing potatoes and garden "truck" on the green slopes of Los Gatos, the mining community of that region, and the adjacent hamlet of "Rough-and-Ready," regarded it with the contemptuous indifference¹ usually shown by those adventurers towards all bucolic² pursuits. There was certainly no active objection to the occupation of two hillsides, which gave so little promise to the prospector³ for gold that it was currently reported that a single prospector, called "Slinn," had once gone mad or imbecile through repeated failures. The only opposition⁴ came, incongruously enough, from the original pastoral owner of the soil, one Don Ramon Alvarado, whose claim for seven leagues of hill and valley, including the now prosperous towns of Rough-and-Ready and Red Dog, was met with simple derision from the squatters and miners. "Looks ez ef we woz goin' to travel three thousand miles to open up his d—d old wilderness⁵, and then pay for the increased valoo we give it—don't it? Oh, yes, certainly!" was their ironical⁶ commentary. Mulrady might have been pardoned for adopting this popular opinion; but by an equally incongruous sentiment, peculiar⁷, however, to the man, he called upon Don Ramon, and actually offered to purchase the land, or "go shares" with him in the agricultural profits. It was alleged⁸ that the Don was so struck with this concession⁹ that he not only granted the land, but struck up a quaint¹⁰ reserved friendship for the simple-minded agriculturist and his family. It is scarcely necessary to add that this

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