et a blanket," I offered.

"Getting a blanket" was the phrase commonly in use when men meant to say
that they intended to enlist. Curtis met the idea with instant approval,
if not with acclamation, and, suiting the action to the words, we
obtained a hack and drove to the Presidio, where we underwent the
examination for artillerymen. Curtis passed easily and was accepted, but
I, owing to a wound in my ankle received during the war, was refused.

Curtis obtained the customary three days' leave before joining his
company and for that brief space we roamed about the city, finishing our
"good time" with such money as Curtis had been able to raise by pawning
and selling his belongings. After the three days were over we parted,
Curtis to join his regiment; and since then I have neither seen nor
heard of him. If he still chances to be living, my best wishes go out to
him in his old age.

For some time I hung around San Francisco trying to obtain employment,
without any luck. I was not then as skillful a gambler as I became in
after years, and, in any case, I had no money with which to gamble. It
was, I found, one thing to sit down to a monte deck at a table
surrounded with people you knew, where your credit was good, and another
to stake your money on a painted wheel in a great hall where nobody
cared whether you won or lost.

Trying to make my little stake last as long as possible, I roomed in a
cheap hotel--the old What Cheer rooming house, and ate but one "two-bit"
meal a day. I was constantly on the lookout for work of some kind, but
had no luck until one day as I was passing up Kearney street I saw a
sign in one of the store windows calling for volunteers for the
Sloop-o'-War Jamestown. After reading the notice a couple of times I
decided to enlist, did so, was sent to Mare Island Navy Yard and from
there boarded the Jamestown.

It was on that vessel that I performed an action that I have not since
regretted, however reprehensible it may seem in the light of present-day
ethics. Smallpox broke out on board and I, fearful of contracting the
dread disease, planned to desert. This would probably not have been
possible today, when the quarantine regulations are so strict, but in
those days port authorities were seldom on the alert to prevent vessels
with diseases anchoring with other shipping, especially in Mexico, in
the waters of which country we were cruising.

When we reached Mazatlan I went ashore in the ordinary cou