r. My own experience, when I came
down from Sonoma County in the autumn of 1886, meaning to return to
England, will give a very good notion of this, and of the way to get a
cheap ticket when there is the trouble among the companies which may end
in a war, or be patched up by arbitration.

It had been said in the papers for some time that rate-cutting was
going on in San Francisco, and this made me hurry down not to lose the
opportunity. The morning after my arrival I walked into an office in
Kearney Street and said briefly, "What are you doing to New York?" The
clerk said in a business way, "Seventy-two dollars." I laughed a little
and looked at him straight without speaking. "Hum," said he; "well, you
can go for sixty-five." "Thanks," I said, "it isn't enough." I walked
out, and though he called me back I would not return. Then I went to Mr
P., a well-known agent for railroads and steamships. To use a vulgarism,
he did not open his mouth so wide as the other, but at once offered me a
through ticket to Liverpool for $72. I thanked him and said I would call
again. Deducting the $12 for a steerage passage, his railroad fare was
$60. So far I had knocked off 12. And now it began to rain very hard. It
did not cease all day. And my day's work was only begun, for it was only
ten o'clock then. I went from one office to another, quoting one's rates
here and another's there, and slowly I dropped the fare to fifty. I had
to explain to some of these men that I was not a fool, and that I knew
what I was doing; that if they took me for a "tenderfoot," or a
"sucker," they were mistaken. My explanations always had an effect, and
down the fare tumbled. At last, about three o'clock, I had got things to
a very fine point, and was working two rival offices which stood side by
side near the Palace Hotel. One man--Mr A., whom I knew by name, who
indeed knew a friend of mine--offered me $45. I shook my head, and going
next door, Mr V. made it a dollar less. It took me half-an-hour to
reduce that again to forty-three; but at last Mr A., who was as much
interested in this little game as if I were a big stake at poker, went
suddenly down to $41. I offered to toss him whether it should be $40 or
$42. He accepted, and I won the toss. As he made out the ticket, he
remarked, almost sadly, "We don't make anything out of this." But he
cheered up, and added, "Well, the others don't either." So I got my
ticket; and it was over one of the best lines. By