to
your mother. There'll be a mail out next week, and not another for
maybe thirty or forty days. Shall I leave the letter open for you?"

"Yes, please," bade Charley, a lump in his throat at the mere thought
of his mother. "I'll add a lot to it after I come back."

"I'll tell her we've not found our gold mine yet, but we've sold our
newspapers for a dollar apiece and spent that for washing," laughed his
father.

"Tell her to send us out all the old papers she has," begged Charley,
excitedly. "And potatoes and cabbages, from the garden!"

"I saw a man buy a whole cargo of eggs, down at the water-front," put
in Mr. Grigsby, "at thirty-seven and a half cents a dozen, and he
turned right around and resold 100 dozen of them at six dollars the
dozen! You can't afford to be sick here, Adams. The doctors charge
$50 for a visit, and the same for every hour after the first look-in.
Come along, Charley, and we'll see the sights while I do a few errands
on my own account. I hear Colonel Fremont's in town. Maybe we can
catch him."

XVI

CHARLEY HEARS A CONVERSATION

"If you're looking for Colonel Fremont, you'll likely find him at the
United States Hotel," hailed the hotel clerk, as Charley and Mr.
Grigsby passed the counter. "He's there with General Vallejo, I
understand."

"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Grigsby. "You know who Fremont is," he said, to
Charley; and Charley nodded. Of course he knew. Fremont was the great
explorer--Fremont the Pathfinder, they called him. He it was who,
arrived in California on his third exploring expedition for the
Government, early in 1846, had been on hand to lead in the taking of
California from Mexico. His stories of his travels made fine reading.
"Well, this General Vallejo is Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. He was
the military governor of Upper California before the war, but he's been
a great friend of the Americans, although he was the first man they
captured in the uprising of Forty-six. Nobody has a word to say
against General Vallejo. He wanted California to belong to the United
States, and said so, when other Californians were favoring England and
France instead of Mexico, after it was seen that Mexico couldn't hold
it. Fact is, General Vallejo it was who started San Francisco. Not
this San Francisco, but Benicia, at the other end of the bay. He
donated the land, and only asked that the city be named Francisca,
after his wife, Francisca Benicia. He gave a trac