By the Great Horn Spoon!

Jack and Praiseworthy set off for the diggings, a journey that will take them a week. On the riverboat to Sacramento City, Jack polishes his brand-new “horn spoon,” a small tool carved from animal horn that is used to gouge gold dust from rocky surfaces. Praiseworthy, who is starting to look less like an elegant butler and more like a sun-weathered outdoorsman, still has some gold dust left over, which he hides in his left glove.

In Sacramento City, to raise some money, Jack and Praiseworthy are forced to sell a pick and shovel, which nets them 200 dollars in gold dust. Praiseworthy adds it to his glove, which now feels “as heavy as an anvil” (100). On the stagecoach to Hangtown, Jack and Praiseworthy’s fellow passengers include an undertaker, who says business in the goldfields has been “brisk,” and a man in a jipijapa hat who appears to be asleep. This man has a dueling pistol tucked inside his belt. Once the coach is underway, Jack recognizes him as Cut-Eye Higgins.

Calmly, Praiseworthy probes Cut-Eye Higgins with questions about Dr. Buckbee’s stolen map, but the thief denies any knowledge of it, claiming he is now a “dentist.” During a rest stop, Jack and Praiseworthy discuss how best to get the map back from Cut-Eye, whose hand never strays from his dueling pistol. On a mountain pass, a dozen highwaymen hold up the stagecoach, and Cut-Eye shoots at them, missing with his one shot. While stripping the passengers of their valuables, one of the larger thieves discovers Praiseworthy’s portrait of Arabella in his coat pocket, and tries to steal it. The butler reacts instantly, with a devastating left jab. His fist, weighted with gold dust, knocks the bandit several yards into unconsciousness. The other passengers gasp in admiration, and the bandit leader, amused, salutes Praiseworthy.

Before departing, the bandits steal the passengers’ coats, suspecting there might be valuables sewn into the linings. Stripped of his traditional butler’s coat, Praiseworthy feels “like a leopard suddenly deprived of his spots” (111). He quickly recovers his poise and orders Cut-Eye Higgins, whose gun is now empty, to hand over the gold map. However, Cut-Eye claims the map was hidden in the lining of his coat, and is now in the hands of the highwaymen.

Hangtown is a shanty full of miners and mules, and devoid of women. Walking its streets, so close to the “diggings,” Jack’s “gold fever” becomes almost unbearable. However, the diggings are crowded with gold-seekers, who are busily “washing gold out of the dirt in everything from wooden bowls to frying pans” (116); others are shoveling dirt into long troughs set in the creek, to winnow out gold.

Before Jack and Praiseworthy can find an unclaimed spot, a shot rings out, and Praiseworthy’s wash pan flies out of his hand. A scruffy prospector with a smoking pistol accuses the butler of stealing his wash pan. Jack spots the man’s own wash pan lying nearby, and the man, abashed, laughs good-naturedly, and introduces himself as Pitch-pine Billy Pierce. As an apology, he offers to teach Jack and Praiseworthy (assuming Jack is Praiseworthy’s son) how to pan for gold. He offers them coffee, “jamoka” in the local parlance. Though Jack finds the beverage, flavored with ground acorn, almost undrinkable, he forces it down anyway, so as to not lose face with the miner. Impressed, Billy gives him the nickname “Jamoka Jack,” which thrills him.  

Like Quartz Jackson, Billy doesn’t know what a “butler” is. He shows the pair how to stake a claim, which is done by driving four pegs into the ground at the corners, and putting tin cans or rags on them to make them more visible. As long as a miner works his claim at least one day a month, it remains his. This is known as “miner’s law.” Billy tells the pair that they can squat on his claim until they find their own. Since Praiseworthy’s pan, which Billy shot, is useless, Billy suggests using his umbrella instead. It proves to be an effective wash pan, though the butler is initially horrified to see the last “badge” of his profession abused in this fashion.