Now I had had his attention! Flattery! Flattery is always the first rule. I went on, rather at my own pace:

"Who shall populate it? Naturally, the vanguard of the frontier that has always pushed West in our great country's brief history will ever endeavor West, but for those pioneers to push not merely into the next county or state—but to leap across a Continent—they will need to be attracted by those who will serve them. They must be drawn across—nay, over—a Continent! And a hostile one, at that! Only a class of tradesmen will do! I will bring you such a group!"

Sutter's eyes gleamed. "Vell, if it can be done, my boy, you had better go ahead and do it!"

With that, he proposed a champagne toast! We all drank to me! To me!

The corks began to pop! Again and again and again.

[The fiddler transitions back to a reprise of "Loop #3, Signs & Wonders."]

I woke up the following morning with my boots still on.

You must understand that as an American pioneer, I was many things at a young age: trailblazer, attorney, and leader of men come to mind—worldly drinker does not. On my first trip West, I learned both how to skin a buffalo and when to avoid the sweet stuff.

Following that evening of imbibing, Sutter did send me on some rather cursory surveying assignments, as I had hoped he might. The Spanish and then the Mexicans had made perfectly good maps of the land with all property lines demarcated, but that only affirmed what Sutter was up to: he was employing my services simply for the sake of trying me out—and for having a foundation upon which to build a business relationship in the future!

Sutter, Emperor of the Central Valley who bent wilderness to his will daily, would partner with me—with me!—on California's inchoate path to Civilization! One could not be certain of the prize that awaited, but I knew it awaited me.

Those aimless morning rides of my earliest days in California now had shape, direction, and purpose! My future was now assuredly in those fogs, written all over the morning mists that would settle in my hair and mat it the faster I rode. I pressed on those trails I'd now ridden dozens of times apiece, through fields and meadows faster and faster! All of life was about to bloom with California as my bride!

[He raises his eyebrows rather matter-of-factly, rather than getting caught up in the ominous tone of this declaration. He also indicates his empty tumbler with a pointed swirl.]