noon
Bradley and Don Luis each took with them eighteen pounds weight of gold ; Malcolm , who was unencumbered by anything , and merely carried a brace of pistols in his belt , took very nearly seventy pounds . To relieve Malcolm 's horse as much as possible , three of us , who were to act as an escort to within a few miles of the Sacramento Valley , were each to carry fifteen pounds weight of the gold so far as we went . This escort was composed of Story , José , and myself . We started off soon after sun rise , amidst the faint cheers of our invalided companions , and , as it was necessary for the escorting party to return to the camp that night , it was agreed that we were to retrace our steps at noon or thereabouts . The commencement of our ride was through an open country , broken up by boulders of granite and clumps of dark grey sage trees , when , after ascending some low rocky hills , their summits crowned with a dense forest of gigantic pines , we entered a grassy valley , lined with groups of noble cedars , whose spreading branches offered a most inviting shade . Every now and then , we had to make our way down the sides of huge chasms which intercepted our progress , and then to toil slowly up the difficult ascent . At noon we halted and took shelter from the sun in a little dell with a gushing spring bubbling up in the midst , and a patch of willows fringing the banks of the running stream .