He did not
pine away on account of the loss of his prisoners, nor grow any
thinner--that was impossible. I remained four days longer,
expecting something would happen; but nothing did happen, then I left
the gaol.
I wrote out two notices informing the public that I was willing to
sell my real estate; one of these I pasted up at the Post Office, the
other on the bridge over the Aux Plaines River. Next day a German
from Chicago agreed to pay the price asked, and we called on Colonel
Smith, the Squire. The Colonel filled in a brief form of transfer,
witnessed the payment of the money--which was in twenty-dollar gold
pieces, and he charged one dollar as his fee. The German would have
to pay about 35 cents for its registration. If the deed was lost or
stolen, he would insert in a local journal a notice of his intention
to apply for a copy, which would make the original of as little value
to anybody as a Provincial and Suburban bank note.
In Illinois, transfers of land were registered in each county town.
To buy or sell a farm was as easy as horse-stealing, and safer.
Usually, no legal help was necessary for either transaction.
By this time California had a rival; gold had been found in
Australia. I was fond of gold; I jingled the twenty dollar gold
pieces in my pocket, and resolved to look for more at the
fountainhead, by way of my native land.
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