Was it then the long, long-looked for German Rifle Brigade? Here is
it's four-horned name--I copy from a slip of paper I wrote in pencil
on that very Saturday, as the name was too long and difficult for me
to remember--'The Independent Californian Rangers' Revolver Brigade.'
I should say they numbered a couple of hundred, looking Californian enough,
armed with a Colt's revolver of large size, and many had a Mexican knife
at the hip.
Here is the very circumstance when M`Gill made his appearance for the first
time within the stockade; I recollect perfectly well the circumstance
when a Mr. Smith, of the American Adams's Express, was holding the bridle
of the horse, from which said M`Gill dismounted.
James M`Gill is of the breed on the other side of the Pacific. He is thought
to have been educated in a military academy, and certainly, he has the manners
of a young gentleman of our days. He is rather short, not so much
healthy-looking as wide awake. 'What's up?' is his motto. This colony
will sober him down, and then he will attend more to 'what's to be done.'
His complexion bears the stamp of one born of a good family, but you can read
in the white of his eyes, in the colouring of his cheeks, in the paleness
of his lips, that his heart is for violence. When he gets a pair
of solid whiskers, he may pass for a Scotchman, for he has already a nose
as if moulded in Scotland.
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