A
Chinaman served as steward and cook, and at the ringing of a bell we all
went into a small saloon back of the pilothouse, where the meals were
served. Our party at table on the "Gila" consisted of several unmarried
officers, and several officers with their wives, about eight or nine in
all, and we could have had a merry time enough but for the awful heat,
which destroyed both our good looks and our tempers. The fare was
meagre, of course; fresh biscuit without butter, very salt boiled beef,
and some canned vegetables, which were poor enough in those days. Pies
made from preserved peaches or plums generally followed this delectable
course. Chinamen, as we all know, can make pies under conditions that
would stagger most chefs. They may have no marble pastry-slab, and the
lard may run like oil, still they can make pies that taste good to the
hungry traveller.

But that dining-room was hot! The metal handles of the knives were
uncomfortably warm to the touch; and even the wooden arms of the chairs
felt as if they were slowly igniting. After a hasty meal, and a few
remarks upon the salt beef, and the general misery of our lot, we would
seek some spot which might be a trifle cooler. A siesta was out of the
question, as the staterooms were insufferable; and so we dragged out the
weary days.

At sundown the boat put her nose up to the bank and tied up for the
night. The soldiers left the barges and went into camp on shore, to
cook their suppers and to sleep. The banks of the river offered no very
attractive spot upon which to make a camp; they were low, flat, and
covered with underbrush and arrow-weed, which grew thick to the water's
edge. I always found it interesting to watch the barge unload the men at
sundown.

At twilight some of the soldiers came on board and laid our mattresses
side by side on the after deck. Pajamas and loose gowns were soon en
evidence, but nothing mattered, as they were no electric lights to
disturb us with their glare. Rank also mattered not; Lieutenant-Colonel
Wilkins and his wife lay down to rest, with the captains and lieutenants
and their wives, wherever their respective strikers had placed their
mattresses (for this was the good old time when the soldiers were
allowed to wait upon officers 'families).

Under these circumstances, much sleep was not to be thought of; the
sultry heat by the river bank, and the pungent smell of the arrow-weed
which lined the shores thickly, contributed more