420 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



^@fi) fet 



:RS0N pondor- 

 ovor the letter 

 he had received, and finally 

 showed it to Secretary Hop- 

 son. The latter smiled as 

 he read it, and remarked 

 that Mr. Smith was a queer 

 genius, and added: '"If 

 you should get acquainted with him, Mr. An- 

 derson, you would find him a jolly companion. 

 I dare say you wrote to him as you would to a 

 man acquainted with all of the terms used in 

 the practice of bee culture; and his knowledge 

 of bees being limited he has answered accord- 

 ing to his understanding, with a touch of his 

 drollery. There are certainly bees on the 

 Ghering ranch, and a large number. My ad- 

 vice is to follow the clew, as detectives say, 

 and find out the true state of affairs." 



Fred found that he could reach that portion 

 of the Sacramento River by rail to Maxwell or 

 Delevan, and then, by uncertain conveyances 

 and much walking, might find the ranch. He 

 could also, by taking more time, get up the 

 river on one of the little steamers that ply at 

 certain seasons of the year 

 between Sacramento and 

 Red Bluffs. 



Accordingly, the next 

 afternoon, after receiving 

 the letter, Fred was on 

 the steamer Valetta, 

 booked for Ghering's 

 Landing. In former years 

 the Sacramento had been 

 navigable for quite large 

 steamers far above the 

 capital city; but now, 

 owing to the continued 

 wash of debris from hy- 

 draulic mining up the 

 many tributary streams, 

 the channel would barely 

 allow a boat drawing 

 three feet of water to 

 ascend as far as Red 

 Bluffs; and even the 

 large steamers find trou- 

 blesome sandbars far be- 

 low Sacramento. 



The little Valetta, loaded with merchandise 

 for the up-river towns, puffed its way carefully 

 over sand-bars, around headlands, through 

 tule bottoms, stopping now and then at land- 

 ings as occasion required; and about noon, on 

 the second day, she slowed up to the wharf be- 

 fore the lively town of Colusa. 

 Here a party of six miners came on board 



with their mining and camping paraphernalia, 

 bound for the reported new diggings in Butte 

 County. Their advent made quite a commo- 

 tion on the Valetta. They had been "blowing 

 in" Their earnings in the various saloons of 

 Colusa, and had evidently imbibed a noisy 

 brand of spirits; and their most precious par- 

 cel of baggage was a gallon demijohn of whisky, 

 or a compound that went by that name. 



The Valetta had not proceeded far in the 

 continuation of its trip when the demijohn was 

 passed to all hands on the boat. Now, Fred 

 Anderson was a true-blue temperance youth; 

 and when the demijohn came to him he merely 

 passed it along to the next man. The fact 

 that he did not drink was not apparently notic- 

 ed; and during the next hour several drinks 

 were taken, and he passed the liquor as at first, 

 or slipped to one side and avoided it. As a 

 result of the several imbibings all hands on 

 board except Fred began to be very jubilant. 

 The red and blue shirted miners formed a circle 

 on the forward deck, and began to shout, "On 

 this deck we'll take our stand, we all belong to 

 Gideon's band; here's my heart and here's my 

 hand, we all belong to Gideon's band," etc. 

 Their efforts at a shuffle, and a breakdown, 

 were so ludicrous that Fred laughed heartily. 

 This attracted the attention of a blear-eyed, 

 viclous-appeaiing fellow, and, shuffling toward 



"hoe 'er down, tenderfoot !" 



Fred, he remarked, somewhat incoherently, 

 'See — here — young man; maybe ye — think ye 

 — kin— dance better'n we kin." Then address- 

 ing his companions, he said: "Say, boys, le's 

 make the milksop tenderfoot dance." 



To this they all assented vociferously. 



" That's a bully idea, Sam," said one. " Hur- 

 rah! tenderfoot dance is next on the program," 



