ntryside. Men were living in the
second stories of such buildings as possessed second stories, and on the
roofs of others. They were paddling about in all sorts of improvised
boats and rafts. I saw one man keeping a precarious equilibrium in a
baker's trough; and another sprawled out face down on an India rubber
bed paddling overside with his hands.

We viewed these things from the thwarts of a boat which we hired for ten
dollars. Our horses we had left outside of town on the highlands.
Everywhere we passed men and shouted to them a cheery greeting.
Everybody seemed optimistic and inclined to believe that the flood would
soon go down.

"Anyway, she's killed the rats," one man shouted in answer to our call.

We grinned an appreciation of what we thought merely a facetious reply.
Rats had not yet penetrated to the mines, so we did not know anything
about them. Next day, in San Francisco, we began to apprehend the man's
remark.

Thus we rowed cheerfully about, having a good time at the other fellow's
expense. Suddenly Johnny, who was steering, dropped his paddle with an
exclamation. Yank and I turned to see what had so struck him. Beyond the
trees that marked where the bank of the river ought to be we saw two
tall smokestacks belching forth a great volume of black smoke.

"A steamer!" cried Yank.

"Yes, and a good big one!" I added.

We lay to our oars and soon drew alongside. She proved to be a side
wheeler, of fully seven hundred tons, exactly like the craft we had
often seen plying the Hudson.

"Now how do you suppose they got her out here?" I marvelled.

She was almost completely surrounded by craft of all descriptions; her
decks were crowded. We read the name _McKim_ on her paddle boxes.

A man with an official cap appeared at the rail.

"Bound for San Francisco?" I called to him.

"Off in two minutes," he replied.

"What's the fare?"

"Forty dollars."

"Come on, boys," said I to my comrades, at the same time seizing a
dangling rope.

"Hold on!" cried Yank. "How about our two horses and our blankets, and
this boat?"

I cast my eye around, and discovered a boy of fourteen or fifteen in the
stern of a neat fisherman's dory a few feet away.

"Here!" I called to him. "Do you want two good horses and some
blankets?"

"I ain't got any money."

"Don't need any. These are free. We're going down on this boat. You'll
find the outfit under the big white oak two miles above the forks on the
American. T