noon
So confident were they of that ultimate prospect , that the wealth already thus obtained was religiously expended in engines and machinery for the boring of wells and the conveyance of that precious water which the exhausted river had long since ceased to yield . It seemed as if the gold they had taken out was by some ironical compensation gradually making its way back to the soil again through ditch and flume and reservoir . Such was the position of affairs at Devil 's Ford on the 13th of August , 1860 . It was noon of a hot day . Whatever movement there was in the stifling air was seen rather than felt in a tremulous , quivering , upward-moving dust along the flank of the mountain , through which the spires of the pines were faintly visible . There was no water in the bared and burning bars of the river to reflect the vertical sun , but under its direct rays one or two tinned roofs and corrugated zinc cabins struck fire , a few canvas tents became dazzling to the eye , and the white wooded corral of the stage office and hotel insupportable . For two hours no one ventured in the glare of the open , or even to cross the narrow , unshadowed street , whose dull red dust seemed to glow between the lines of straggling houses .