self
to my fate. We were obliged to walk our horses the entire distance, as
I was too sick to endure any other motion. We lost our way once or
twice, were exhausted with fatigue and faint with hunger, chilled
through with the cold, and our feet wet with the damp night-air.

I forgot to tell you that Mrs. ----, being very fleshy, was compelled
to ride astride, as it would have been utterly impossible for her to
have kept her seat if she had attempted to cross those steep hills in
the usual feminine mode of sitting a horse. She wore dark-gray
bloomers, and, with a Kossuth hat and feather, looked like a handsome
chubby boy. Now, riding astride, to one unaccustomed to it, is, as you
can easily imagine, more safe than comfortable, and poor Mrs. ---- was
utterly exhausted.

When we arrived at our destined haven, which we did at last, the
gentleman of the house came forward and invited Mr. and Mrs. ---- to
alight. Not a word was said to the rest of us, not even "Good evening."
But I was too far gone to stand upon ceremony. So I dismounted and made
a rush for the cooking-stove, which, in company with an immense
dining-table on which lay (enchanting sight!) a quarter of beef, stood
under a roof, the four sides open to the winds of heaven. As for the
remainder of the party, they saw how the land lay, and vamosed to parts
unknown, namely, the American Rancho, where they arrived at four
o'clock in the morning, some tired, I _guess_, and made such a fearful
inroad upon the eatables that the proprietor stood aghast, and was only
pacified by the ordering in from the bar of a most generous supply of
the drinkable, which, as he sells it by the glass, somewhat reconciled
him to the terrific onslaught upon the larder.

In the mean time behold me, with much more truth than poetry literally
alone in my glory, seated upon a wooden stool, with both feet perched
upon the stove, and crouching over the fire in a vain attempt to coax
some warmth into my thoroughly chilled frame. The gentleman and lady of
the house, with Mr. and Mrs. ----, are assembled in grand conclave, in
one room, of which the building consists, and as California houses are
_not_ planned with a view to eavesdroppers, I have the pleasure of
hearing the following spirited and highly interesting conversation.
There is a touching simplicity about it truly dramatic.

I must premise that Mrs. ---- had written the day before to know if the
visit, which her husband's friend had so