n some down there, and in Mexico, too."

"Well, he's an odd one, all right," insisted the Fremonter. And
Charley agreed.

The crowd on the wharf and shore were cheering and laughing at the
antics in the mud. From the wharf a long, steep flight of steps led
down, and up this, in the procession, toiled the Adams party.

It was a very good-natured crowd, almost all men, in rough costumes of
miner's red or blue or gray shirts, and trousers tucked into boots,
slouch hats, faces well whiskered and pistols and knives thrust through
belts. Some of the men were uproariously greeting newly-arrived
relatives and friends; but there was no one here to greet the Adams
party. So the first thing to do was to find the trunk, and then a
lodging-place.

"What's the proper hotel, Grigsby?" inquired Mr. Adams.

"I'll find out." And Mr. Grigsby addressed the nearest citizen--a
small, gray-shirted man with a beard almost as gray. "Pardner, what
are the lodging-houses here now? City Hotel still running?"

"City Hotel, Parker House, Portsmouth Hotel, United States Hotel;
they're all running, and full to the roofs, too, stranger. If you want
a bed you've got to make tracks--and I reckon by the looks of your feet
you'll make 'em."

"We'll go up to the plaza, I reckon, then," said Mr. Grigsby, to his
partners. "Better put on our boots first."

They wiped their feet on a piece of old canvas lying near, and donned
their stockings and boots.

"How'll we get our trunk up to the hotel, I wonder?" spoke Charley's
father. "Here----" and he called to a couple of Mexicans standing
near. "Want to earn fifty cents?"

The Mexicans laughed, and shrugged their shoulders; and one of them, in
a very impudent fashion, made a derisive answer in Spanish. Charley's
father colored, and took an angry step forward; but a miner stopped him.

"Go easy, stranger," he said. "This is a free land." He thrust his
hand into his pocket, and actually extended to Mr. Adams two dollars.
"Carry your trunk yourself," he said. "Fifty cents wouldn't take it to
the end of this wharf." And the onlookers shouted at the joke.

So Mr. Adams laughed.

"All right," he uttered. "I offered what I thought was a fair wage.
If somebody'll kindly help us up with that trunk we'll tend to the
other baggage and pay the regular tariff."

"Now you're talkin'," approved the miner. "Why, most of us out here
wouldn't stoop over to pick up four bits. What's four bits, in