Suisun Bay was bordered with reedy where the rushes grew higher than a man's head. It seemed to be a great hunting ground, for ducks, geese and swans flew in armies—a beautiful sight in the sunset. These quite excited the Mary Ann's passengers, until suddenly somebody , distant in the east, ahead, a long broken line of bluish white.  
"Mountains!"
 
"Look at the mountains, boys!"
 
"No! Those are clouds."
 
"No, siree! Mountains, with snow on 'em!"
 
"Hooray for the Sierras, boys! There's where the gold lies."
 
"See them?" bade Mr. Grigsby, to Charley and his father. "That's the main range of the Sierra Nevada—the Snowy Range, as the Spanish goes. It divides California from the Great Desert. Over it Carson led Frémont and us other fellows, in winter, through ten and twenty feet of snow, to the headwaters of the American River and down the American River to Sutter's Fort and the Sacramento. How far away is that range, do you think?"
 
"Near a hundred miles, I should judge," calculated Mr. Adams.
 
Various passengers were guessing twenty, fifty, one hundred and two hundred miles—making all kinds of wild assertions. But Charley's father had struck pretty , for he had seen mountains before, in Mexico.
 
"Just about," approved Mr. Grigsby. "The nearest perhaps seventy-five. But Sacramento's more than sixty miles yet, by the river, and the high Sierras are one hundred miles up the American from there."
 
As evening fell, the Mary Ann was entering a wide channel through the marshes where the San Joaquin River from the south and the Sacramento, further on the east, emptied into Suisun Bay. The mouth of the San Joaquin, said several people, was narrow and shallow, and boats for Stockton and the southern mines frequently went aground if the tide was out; but the Sacramento was wide and deep. A mist or fog began to veil the shores and water, and passengers prepared to go to bed. The Adams party to sleep rolled in their blankets on deck—which suited Charley exactly. He had grown fond of this open-air sleeping, and did not seem hard any more.
 
The breeze died, and in the dusk the anchor out, holding the short, near the mouth of the Sacramento. All night the wild screamed—and all night the mosquitoes hummed. Charley stuck his head under his blanket and slept fairly well.
 
The sun rose red, and so did many of the passengers, for the mosquitoes had been fierce indeed. But everybody was good-natured; a few hardships must be expected, in making a fortune. With the morning breeze the Mary Ann in her anchor. All sails set again, she through the , and struck the current of the Sacramento.
 
The Sacramento proved to be a fine, noble stream, flowing 200 and 300 yards wide, with gentle current and plenty of "sea room" around and under. The banks were heavily timbered clear to the water's edge, flowers blossomed , and through openings in the timber on the right were given glimpses of the distant foothills, over-topped by the blue-misted snow-crests behind them. It certainly looked like a wonderful country, not only for mining but for farming, also.
 
The banks appeared mainly , save where squatters, as they were called, had taken land, cleared it, and had piled up wood to sell. There was one spot which Mr. Grigsby said was an Indian village, and he out reed huts. But the most interesting feature was the boats, most of them going up, a few coming down.
 
There were two , larger than the Mary Ann, but crowded as full, which, just ahead, back and , sometimes were near, sometimes far. There were also smaller boats, skiffs and scows, full to the gunwales, their passengers rowing and paddling hard, as if in a race. In one funny hand-made skiff the men were using boards and even pans. They scarcely paused to cheer the Mary Ann as she glided past, and her passengers yelled:
 
"Bye-bye!" "See you later!" "We're bound for the mines. Where are you going?" "Want a tow?" And so forth, and so forth. Another boat was a suspiciously built yawl, which looked much like the boat in which Charley had slept, over the stern of the California. It held nine men, three of them in sailor costumes; and on the bows a name evidently had been scratched out. Rowing , the men in it barely glanced up as the Mary Ann passed. They appeared to be anxious to sheer off.
 
"Here's a , I'll bet my hat," exclaimed the captain of the Mary Ann, who happened to be near the Adams party. "It's a ship's boat, and those men row like sailors—let alone their clothes. They've taken French leave, for the mines. It's impossible to hold a crew, in San Francisco Bay. If they can't steal a boat they'll swim and make their way on foot."
 
Now down the river came a broad scow, made of rough planks, and by sweeps. As it passed, the men in it (who wore miners' costumes) waved their hands—and see; they held up gunny sacks and salt bags, stuffed full and heavy.
 
"Just from the mines," they shouted. "Back from the land of gold. You're too late. We got it all."
 
The sight of those fat, heavy sacks created intense excitement aboard the Mary Ann. The passengers rushed to the near rail; eyes and voices volleyed in a chorus of questions—and several persons almost jumped overboard.
 
"Where'd you get it?"
 
"How much?"
 
"There's more, isn't there?"
 
"Wait a minute!"
 
"Stop the ship, captain!"
 
"Hey! Show us a handful!"
 
Charley was as excited as anybody. Big sacks of gold! Think of that! Look at them! But the captain laughed, at Mr. Grigsby.
 
"Sand, boys; sand," he drawled. "That's a trick of those up-river fellows. They load with bags of sand for ballast, and show them to the other crowd. Bah!"
 
At this Charley felt better, although he did not anybody a sack of gold, if only there was enough left.
 
The Mary Ann made rather slow progress. The river, always broad and smooth, curved in bends, so that sometimes the breeze was dead ahead. Then the Mary Ann must and tack, gaining only a few yards in several hundred. At night she tied up, to a tree; and several of her passengers caught some fish from the rail. Charley tended a line, for a few minutes, and caught a cat-fish that weighed twenty pounds; he couldn't pull it in until his neighbor helped.
 
The Sacramento evidently flowed through a wide valley, for mountains were visible beyond the timber on either hand. Each evening the schooner stopped for the night, tying or anchoring. Not until noon of the fifth day on the river was any sign of settlement along the banks encountered, although boats continued frequent. But that noon a large was passed, where a settler by the name of Schwartz had been wise enough to start in raising vegetables. He had made over $15,000 already, claimed people aboard the schooner—yet for all that nobody on the Mary Ann seemed ready to farm instead of mine.
 
Next, ahead on the right bank, above the Schwartz ranch, appeared a collection of houses and tents. The Mary Ann waxed excited again.
 
"There's Sacramento!"
 
"Get your things together, boys."
 
"Is that Sacramento, cap'n?"
 
"No, sir," answered the captain, shortly. "That's only Sutterville."
 
"Do we stop?"
 
"No, sir; we do not."
 
"Where's Sacramento?"
 
"Three miles above."
 
"This must be the town old Captain Sutter's started," remarked Mr. Grigsby, surveying it narrowly. "Well, he's taken plenty of land to spread out in." And that was so, for about twenty houses were along the high bank for half a mile. "Hope the old captain's up at Sacramento. I'd like to see him."
 
"How large is Sacramento, stranger?" asked a neighbor at the rail.
 
"Large, you say?" answered another. "Make yore guess. Last April when I came out with my pile it had four houses. Now I'm told it's boomin' wuss'n San Francisco—and you know what that means."
 
"So you've been to the mines, have you?" invited Mr. Adams.
 
"Yes, sir; I have, sir. You bet I have, sir."
 
"How'd you make it?"
 
"To the of $20,000 in two weeks, sir. Then I was fool enough to quit, and spend it all in San Francisco. But here I'm back again, for $50,000."
 
Instantly everybody within sound of his voice him with questions, as to "How much could be dug in a day," and other foolish remarks. Charley stared at him. This certainly was a wonderful land. If a man could make and spend $20,000 and then expect $50,000 more, why should anyone remain poor?
 
"Look at the ships!" cried voices, as the Mary Ann rounded a curve.
 
Against the timber to the right, before, rose a score and more of mast-heads. Above the timber floated a cloud of brown dust, as if stirred by many feet. And beyond the masts, in the midst of the trees, could be tents and houses—a great number, laid out in streets, with a levee of earth and sod piled high with freight and baggage, fronting the river. This was Sacramento, at last!
 
The Mary Ann glided in on a long tack. Down fluttered her main-sail, presently down fluttered her fore-sail; and as she swung to, spilling the breeze from her jibs, close to the bank at the end of the levee, a sailor sprang into the water and swimming until he could carried a ash............