r; they are good ones; came in only
this morning."

"Let me have a bushel, then, at a dollar and a half," bade Mr. Adams,
with satisfaction. "That's not an unreasonable price, is it, Charley!"

"We don't sell by the bushel; I quoted you the price by the pound,"
explained the potato merchant.

"What!" gasped Charley's father, again astounded. "You don't mean a
dollar and a half a _pound_?"

"You bet," smiled the merchant. "And going like hot cakes at that.
I'll not have a potato left, by night."

"Come on, Charley," laughed Mr. Adams. "We'll wait and grow our own
potatoes."

"I'll take all you can grow at your own price," challenged the
merchant, after them, as if growing potatoes out here in California was
impossible.

Suddenly a score of voices yelled: "Look out! Look out!" The crowd
jostling and bartering in the plaza parted and rushed to one side and
another, and people plunged headlong into the store doors. Mr. Adams
grabbed Charley by the arm and dragged him in the nearest doorway, too.
Amidst wild shouts and a cloud of dust, into the plaza charged a lean
red bull, with curving sharp horns and frothing mouth; close at his
heels pursued, on dead run, a horseman in Mexican costume, swinging his
riata, or noosed rawhide. The bull dodged--bolted right over a stand
where cakes were on sale--and over the stand sped the horseman, too.
His noose shot forward--it fell exactly over the bull's wide horns, and
to one side veered the quick horse. He braced as the rawhide tautened;
it snapped tight, and head down, heels up, the bull capsized in a
twinkling. The fiery horse held hard, bracing with his legs, while the
Californian sat straight and easy. As the bull struggled, with a
shrill whoop another rider like the first raced in, threw at full
speed, and noosed the bull by the two hind legs. With wave of hand and
flash of teeth the vaqueros, or cowboys, rode away, dragging the bull
through the plaza and out. The plaza filled up again, the shops
resumed business, and nobody appeared to be annoyed. Even the cake
seller gathered his cakes and joined in the laughter while several
persons helped him set up his booth again. Truly, this San Francisco
was a light-hearted, generous place.

"I should think that a man would make surer money farming than digging
for gold," declared Mr. Adams, after he and Charley had noted eggs
priced at twelve dollars a dozen, squashes at a dollar a pound, and
some cabbages at tw