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Show 138 PERSONAL ADVENTURES groan, almost without a struggle ; and his little daughter still stood looking at him, unconscious of his end. No one spoke, for we knew how it was, and felt overawed in the presence of Death. The girl first broke silence. She remained, with her eyes riveted upon her father's face, and holding the cup which she had offered him. Perceiving that he did not move, and that a strange and incomprehensible change had taken place, she bent down to him quickly, and laid her cheek against his - for the bed was a very low one- then placed her hand on his breast, which was bared. She now under· stood the great change that had taken place in him ; and never shall I forget the agonizing sob that burst from her, as, letting the cup fall on the floor, she sank do,vn by his side, half kneeling, half erouching, and exclaimed: "Oh, my God ! l-Ie's dead ! And I am quite alone!" It was indeed a piteous spectacle to witness the deep anguish of that poor orphan; but IN CALIFORNIA. 139 there was a good Samaritan by the bedside, who removed her from the chamber of death to his own home, and who subsequently exerted himself to discover some tidings of her friends in the States, though I never heard with what success. It was well she was taken out of the house in which her father died; for she was spared witnessing a demoniac orgie held that night over his corpse by the depraved and abandoned men with whom he had associated. Nevertheless, his remains ·were respectably interred, and an impres~ ive discourse delivered over his grave by the Reverend Walter Colton. During the protracted stay I was obliged to make in the town, I enjoyed frequent opportunities of cultivating the acquaintance of Mr. Graham, a Tennessean hunter and backwoodsman, who, by his bravery and charact: ristic love of independence, has inscribed hts name in the history of California. Several years previously, he had come over the Rocky Mountains, and 'vas one of the oldest Arne- • ncan settlers in the country. Age, as Mr. |
