By the Great Horn Spoon!

Blurb

By The Great Horn Spoon! is a children's novel by Sid Fleischman, published in 1963. The story takes place in the California Gold Rush. A twelve-year-old boy named Jack, who has lived with his Aunt Arabella since his parents died, heads to California to search for gold after Aunt Arabella loses all her money. He is accompanied by Aunt Arabella's butler, Praiseworthy. As the novel opens, they are stowaways on a ship, The Lady Wilma. They are put to work in the ship's coal bunkers, but they later uncover the villain on the ship who stole their money for tickets. After they become legitimate passengers, they share a cabin with people such as Dr. Buckbee, the horse doctor with the peg leg, and Mountain Jim, a huge man who helps Jack save a pig from the cook. When they reach San Francisco, they head for the gold mines and encounter a number of friendly miners - such as Quartz Jackson, Buffalo John, Jimmie-From-Town, and Pitch-pine Billy Pierce. Along the way they encounter Cut-Eye Higgins, the villain who stole their money earlier.