or year; but that was different. After determining this to my
satisfaction I came to the sensible conclusion that I would make what I
could.

The first thing that caught my eye after I had come to this decision was
a wagon drawn by four mules coming down the street at a sucking walk.
The sight did not impress me particularly; but every storekeeper came
out from his shop and every passerby stopped to look with respect as the
outfit wallowed along. It was driven by a very large, grave, blond man
with a twinkle in his eye.

"That's John A. McGlynn," said a man next my elbow.

"Who's he?" I asked.

The man looked at me in astonishment.

"Don't know who John McGlynn is?" he demanded. "When did you get here?"

"Last night."

"Oh! Well, John has the only American wagon in town. Brought it out from
New York in pieces, and put it together himself. Broke four wild
California mules to drag her. He's a wonder!"

I could not, then, see quite how this exploit made him such a wonder;
but on a sudden inspiration I splashed out through the mud and climbed
into the wagon.

McGlynn looked back at me.

"Freightin'," said he, "is twenty dollars a ton; and at that rate it'll
cost you about thirty dollars, you dirty hippopotamus. These ain't no
safe-movers, these mules!"

Unmoved, I clambered up beside him.

"I want a job," said I, "for to-day only."

"Do ye now?"

"Can you give me one?"

"I can, mebbe. And do you understand the inner aspirations of mules,
maybe?"

"I was brought up on a farm."

"And the principles of elementary navigation by dead reckoning?"

I looked at him blankly.

"I mean mudholes," he explained. "Can you keep out of them?"

"I can try."

He pulled up the team, handed me the reins, and clambered over the
wheel.

"You're hired. At six o'clock I'll find you and pay you off. You get
twenty-five dollars."

"What am I to do?"

"You go to the shore and you rustle about whenever you see anything that
looks like freight; and you look at it, and when you see anything marked
with a diamond and an H inside of it, you pile it on and take it up to
Howard Mellin & Company. And if you can't lift it, then leave it for
another trip, and bullyrag those skinflints at H. M. & Co.'s to send a
man down to help you. And if you don't know where they live, find out;
and if you bog them mules down I'll skin you alive, big as you are. And
anyway, you're a fool to be working in this place for twenty-five
dollars a