vie with him. With three companions, he began "prospecting," with the
most indifferent success; and soon tiring of their situation, they moved
on down to Esmeralda (now Aurora), on the other side of Carson City.
Here new life seemed to inspire the party. What mattered it if they
were in debt to the butcher--for did they not own thirty thousand feet
apiece in the "richest mines on earth"! Who cared if their credit was
not good with the grocer, so long as they revelled in mountains of
fictitious wealth and raved in the frenzied cant of the hour over their
immediate prospect of fabulous riches! But at last the practical
necessities of living put a sudden damper on their enthusiasm. Clemens
was forced at last to abandon mining, and go to work as a common
labourer in a quartz mill, at ten dollars a week and board--after flour
had soared to a dollar a pound and the rate on borrowed money had gone
to eight per cent. a month. This work was very exhausting, and after a
week Clemens asked his employer for an advance of wages. The employer
replied that he was paying Clemens ten dollars a week, and thought that
all he was worth. How much did he want? When Clemens replied that four
hundred thousand dollars a month, and board, was all he could reasonably
ask, considering the hard times, he was ordered off the premises! In
after days, Mark only regretted that, in view of the arduous labours he
had performed in that mill, he had not asked seven hundred thousand for
his services!

After a time, Mark and his friend Higbie established their claim to a
mine, became mad with excitement, and indulged in the wildest dreams for
the future. Under the laws of the district, work of a certain character
must be done upon the claim within ten days after location in order to
establish the right of possession. Mark was called away to the bedside
of a sick friend, Higbie failed to receive Mark's note, and the work was
never done--each thinking it was being properly attended to by the