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ming noise of earnest conversation, as if they were advising with each other how to act; during which they often anxiously pointed to the huts, as if in doubt what course to adopt with regard to their squaws and children, whose only mode of escape would be across the creek, where the flood at the time would test the powers of the best swimmer. In the centre of the horde was discernible a savage of overtopping stature, who we set down as the one that left the large footmarks at the scene of murder. We continued to advance slowly, but steadily, under a blinding sleet shower; and, as we raised our arms to the word "Ready!" they discharged a full flight of arrows, which, however, either fell short or reached us so languidly, that they were easily dodged, as, indeed, most of them can, if well watched, after sixty or seventy yards. Immediately after the discharge, the big Indian rushed to the front, changing the bow into the left hand, and brandishing a tomahawk in the other as if to head a charge; but a discharge of nine rifles, with deadly effect, checked them as they were in the act of bounding to his call. We still continued closing and reloading, and were met with a second discharge of arrows, the big Indian and their large group following in their flight, bent upon coming to close quarters, and approaching with hellish yells within a short pistol-range; when they received a volley of balls and buck-shot from the other eighteen guns, that stunned, staggered, and turned their advance. Once turned, the flight became general and tumultuous, all rushing back among the wigwams, and many plunging into the stream, followed by women holding little children in their arms, who were soon swallowed in its curling eddies. We fired a few more shots into their back tenements, and from the howl that followed, I should say with fatal results; but deeming that our measure of retribution was amply filled, we ceased firing, and retired in a cool, deliberate manner, after having counted twenty-three bodies on the ground.

Such are the sad scenes enacted when civilised man comes first in contact with savage life. The savage obeys at first the dictates of hospitality, common to almost all uncivilised communities; but in a short time tempted by the superiority of utensils, tools, arms, or accoutrements, of the civilised man, or by his clothes, cattle, horses, or indeed any object that he may possess, and unaccustomed to control his cupidity and acquisitiveness, he begins to steal, which is retorted upon by punishment of a comparatively mild character. The vindictive untutored native resents this infliction, not as an act of justice, but as a deed of tyranny, or an act of persecution; and he attempts retribution arms in hand, or has recourse to sullen, secret, cowardly acts of murder. The white man then combines, in all the strength of disciplined purpose and effective means, and men, women, and even innocent babes, fall the victims of evil passions, as inherent in the one class of men as the other. Upon this occasion two of the white party, William Freeman and Thomas Coyle, were severely wounded by the arrows of the Indians, and mortification setting in a few days afterwards in the first case, and bad fever in the second, both were shortly afterwards carried off, so that victory was not cheaply purchased, even by those who had the greatest cause of grievance.

And here we must stop with our extracts from Mr. Kelly's very interesting and graphic narrative. To those who feel any curiosity in the progress of society in the New World that has so suddenly risen up on the Pacific before our own eyes; how the adventurers mine, travel, and suffer from sickness, weather, and privation; how card-playing, drinking, and other detestable practices in many instances level the white man with the savage, or are paving the way to his deterioration; how the magnificent plains of California are covered with game and cattle, and how the city of San Francisco is rising up amid a thousand drawbacks to be the emporium of the extreme western world, we can most conscientiously recommend Mr. Kelly's work as replete with the most minute, and the most valuable and satisfactory, as well as the most amusing details, that have yet been given to the public.

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ALL THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE;

OR,

WHAT BROUGHT EVERYBODY TO LONDON IN 1851.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE ROBBERS' PLOT, AND MR. Jolly green'S COUNTERPLOT, RELATED BY HIMSELF.

IT was a proud and happy moment in my annals when I found myself with the bewitching Clotilde, clinging like an enamoured Parasite to the arm of her Macedonian hero. I had not yet spoken of love, but, as I was crossing the hall of the Symposium, on our way out, I caught a glimpse of my expressive features in one of the mirrors, and felt satisfied that few women could resist the mute eloquence of such a glance as mine. The shaft had sped, and was quivering even then in the sweet girl's ail de bœuf, though she tried to disguise the fact by assuming an air of excessive gaiety, and laughing immoderately at the good things I said. Her mirth was infectious, and Monsieur Coquelicot and his brother joined heartily in it, though I am by no means sure that they knew what they were laughing at. However, I am so much accustomed to see people merry when I associate with them, that I rarely scrutinise the motive very closely, but, like some other great wits, make a point of being the first to applaud my own jokes.

We were too late for the Hippodrome, or I should have proposed an adjournment to that classical place of amusement, where Mr. Batty represents the floor-all games of antiquity with so much taste and accuracy. It would have afforded me great pleasure to have directed Ma'mselle Clotilde's attention to the skill of the ancient Britons, in the management of their war-cabs, as, with scythes attached to their wheels, they whirled along the high roads, mowing down the Roman turnpikemen, taking the change out of, instead of from them, and making them look as blue as they were themselves. I should have liked to have proved to her that modern Britons have not degenerated in manly exercises, by taking a turn in the arena myself, and showing what the dying gladiator really was capable of. But as the doors of the Hippodrome were closed, my gallantry could only be displayed in the arts of peace, which have been cultivated with no less success than those of war. I therefore continued to make the agreeable to the fair young French woman, and should probably have elicited a declaration on the spot, if her father had not interfered with a proposition of his own, to the effect that we should proceed direct to his lodgings, where, he said, he should be happy to offer me un thé." Of course it was all the same to me where we went, provided I was not separated from Ma'mselle Clotilde, so we hailed a cab and drove to Nassau-street, and, thanks to Mr. Mayne's recent regulations, the vehicle did not turn out a war-cab; that is to say, we hadn't a row with the driver, whom I at once paid the full amount he asked. He stared very hard when I did so, but seeing by the resolute expression of my countenance that I was not to be done, he jumped on his box and was off in a twinkling. If everybody were to deal with these fellows as firmly as I do, we should hear of no more imposition.

66

Monsieur Coquelicot was all anxiety to relate what he had overheard at dinner, and with the characteristic eagerness of his countrymen— began the moment we got into the cab; but the wheels made so much noise, and my proximity to Ma'mselle Clotilde imparted so roseate a colour to my thoughts, that I only imperfectly understood the story he told, and was obliged to ask him to repeat it over again, as slowly as he could, after we had entered his lodgings.

Accordingly, while we sat at tea, which Ma'mselle Clotilde made with infinite grace, helping me to sugar with her own fair fingers instead of using the tongs-(which of the two I preferred I need not mention)— her father delivered himself as follows:

"Figurez-vous, Monsieur," said he, addressing me; "Figurez-vous ce que je viens de surprendre-what talk I hear over! Ces gaillards-là font joliment leur affaire-those gay fellows do prettily their business. Ils ne sont pas des gens qui ont toujours eu les mains dans les poches-not always, Monsieur Grin, dère hands in dère pockets. Ils ont commencé par parler des beaux objets qui se trouvent dans l'Exposition, surtout des fichus et des diamants;-chose naturelle, vu le métier qu'ils exercent, et le mérite des articles. Ca est connu, surtout dans les specialité de la maison Coquelicot, Rue St. Martin, No. 48, à Paris. Eh bi'n, quand, j'ai entendu sonner le mot dentelles,' je me suis mis à écouter-I open both my ears to catch what shall come after. Imaginez-donc il n'ont rien dit de notre mouchoir! Mais, en revanche, ils ont assez parlé diamants; they speak plenty of diamonds. On répète plusieurs fois, Konour, Konour! What you call Monsieur Grin, de mountain of lights." "The Koh-i-noor," I observed, correcting his faulty pronunciation, "is a precious stone occasionally found in the peacock's tail, just as people find pearls in native oysters, and jewels in the heads of toads. Mr. Hope's large cat's eye,' on the Dutch side of the Exhibition, is also a familiar instance of the mineral wealth which exists in the domesticated tom-cat. The peacock which produced the Koh-i-noor was a favourite bird of the Great Mogul, Tippoo Sahib, and was taken prisoner by Lord Ellenborough, at the battle of Bombay, when that tyrant was defeated and thrown into the Black Hole of Calcutta, where he now lingers."

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"I cannot say anyting about dat," replied Monsieur Coquelicot, in a tone by no means expressive of the gratitude he ought to have felt at the information I had given him; "all vot I know is, dese men talk very mosh about de Konour, and how to get at him. Ils vont louer une maison en face de l'Exposition-get into de cellars-creuser la terre dessous le batiment dig under de building till dey kom to de iron cage of Monsieur Shubb, and den valk off vith him altogeder. Nom d'un mouchoir, c'est jouer beau jeu, n'est-ce pas?"

I was thunderstruck for a few seconds-not longer-at the audacity of his scheme, but my inventive faculties soon suggested a counterplot. However, before I revealed my own intentions, I sounded Monsieur Coquelicot with respect to his.

"And what do you mean to do in this matter?" I asked.

"I should propose," he replied, "to make part of it to de policemen, and drag dem before de tribunal of first instance for correction."

"But what proof have you against them?" I astutely inquired. "Where are your witnesses to this conversation, and where are your

men ?"

"Bah!" returned Monsieur Coquelicot. "If I denounce one scoundrel in France, soon the policemen is catch him; de Préfet of Paris shall know every rascal like himself, he cannot mistake."

"That may be all very well in France," said I, determined to let him see I had not read my Puffendorf to no purpose-the public will remember that I purchased a copy when I was about to enter on the arduous duties of a special juror-" that may be all very well in France, but in this country, Monsieur Coquelicot, we have some consideration for the liberty of the subject. It is not the custom here for the police to disguise themselves in the skins of lions, as they used to do in Venice, and under cover of that garb receive anonymous communications, which, as the Times very justly remarks, in letters of gold, 'must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee for his good faith.""

"Tant pis pour vous," replied Monsieur Coquelicot, unconsciously betraying the reckless politician in the remark. "Tant pis pour tout le monde! Vot den shall be done?"

"That," observed I, "is another affair.

I rather faney if the matter is left in my hands that the upshot will be something that will astonish these fellows. You must know, Monsieur Coquelicot, that I am looked upon as a stunner in my way-rather!"

"A stunner!" reiterated the marchand de nouveautés, "vot is dat? Tell to me in French. Je ne comprends pas."

"Un' stunner,' ," said I-"unstunner,'-je nong tong paw myself qu'est ce que c'est in French. C'est un-un-devil of a fellow, quiqui-have you got a dictionary?"

"Mais oui," replied Monsieur Coquelicot. "Tiens, Martin, donnesmoi le petit dictionnaire de poche que tu as toujours sur toi

Monsieur Martin, whose talent for silence was as remarkable as his brother's loquacity (I must say I am not fond of people who talk so very much), pulled the book out of his pocket, and handed it over without saying a syllable. The other gave it to me, and I began to search for the word. I soon found it-that is to say, not the word itself, for the French haven't got it-there are no stunners in France since they guillotined the Emperor Napoleon-but the verb "etourdir," to "stun."

"Je suis," said I, closing the volume carelessly; "je suis un étourdiun parfait étourdi—a regular stunner!”

"Je le savais bien," exclaimed Ma'mselle Clotilde, laughing; "it was easy enough to see that."

What quickness of apprehension there is in women! Especially when their wits are sharpened by love! I could have kissed the charming girl for the ready appreciation of my character. Her father was evidently a dull man after all. He muttered something, which I did not distinctly hear, with an air of dissatisfaction. No doubt he was jealous of my superior abilities. I did not, however, give him time to dwell on the subject, but continued:

"There are several courses open to me in the management of this • business. First, there is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to whose department the crown jewels and everything on which money can be raised, belong; he would be very glad to know it; and if I sent him the half of a five pound note in the usual way, and requested him to acknowledge it in the Times, he would grant me an interview at once."

"Comment!" interrupted Monsieur Coquelicot, "you pay de Chancelier of de Scheckerre half of five pounds, more as sixty francs, merely to see him! Mais c'est une plaisanterie ! Il est bien étourdi celui-la !”

"Pleasant or not," replied I, "that's the way the thing is always done here. If you'd read the papers as carefully as I do, you'd have found that out before now. You can't see anything in this country without paying for it. However, I sha'n't write to him. In the next place, there's Mr. Mayne, the Chief Commissioner of Police answers to your Preffybut if he happens to hear of a dodge of this sort he never rests till he has found out all about it, and then gets all the credit; time enough to apply in that quarter by-and-by. Then there's Mr. Beak, the magistrate, who sent George IV. to the treadmill when he was Prince Regent, and makes no distinction between Blue or Black Guards; I've been before-that is to say, I've met him-know him personally-don't like him much--he's so fond of giving his advice: I should recommend you, Mr. Green, in future to be more some nonsense or other about choosing one's companions, and things of that sort-advice, too, that one never asked him for. No, I shall never, willingly, go to him."

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Apparemment, Monsieur Grin," said the marchand de nouveautés, vous évitez les chemins les plus directs. You do not mosh like de policemen, hey?"

"The police," I answered, "are all very well in common-place matters, but there are some things that require a superior intelligence. In an ordinary case of housebreaking, in a street row, in making an applewoman move on, or in seizing a horse by the bridle, to prevent him from moving at all, your policeman is tolerably efficient; but when your have to deal with objects that are purely imaginary-that is to say, which depend chiefly on the imaginative faculties-a subtler spirit is necessary. I am afraid you don't clearly understand me.

"I tink," said Monsieur Coquelicot, taking a long pinch of snuff with a grimace which none but a Frenchman could execute-"I tink, if you speak a littel more plain, I shall better comprehend."

I pitied his obtuseness, but, for the sake of Ma'mselle Clotilde, who sat like Patience on the Monument, smiling at London Bridge, I resolved to enter into particulars.

"It is my intention," I said, "to capture these robbers with my own hand. To do so requires as much ingenuity as courage. But I trust," I added, glancing at the young lady, and significantly laying my hand on my heart" I trust I am not deficient in either. It happens, singularly enough, that I am acquainted with Mr. Fixture, the house agent, who has the letting of the very houses you speak of opposite the building, having been in treaty for one of them on my own account only a few months ago. I shall not, of course, let him into the secret; but, in affecting to resume the negotiation, I shall have the opportunity of learning who these parties are, and obtain an introduction to them, keep a watchful eye on their proceedings, and, when the time is ripe, come down upon them with one of those strokes of policy which are peculiar to myself."

"Ah!" observed Monsieur Coquelicot, taking another pinch of snuff, "dat is your plan? Très bien! Nous allons voir. I hope I shall know a littel more of you, Monsieur Grin. Do you constantly reside in London? A house of your own? Rich?-perhaps very rich? Eh, Monsieur Grin ?"

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