THE COUNTRY BOY 143 



out $22 each, making up $500 for a special. 

 Mr. Frank Maskey, the candy man of San 

 Francisco, he of the large diamond, who had 

 appreciated ni}^ invitation to lunch after a fast 

 of two days, paid for me, and we sped on at 

 the rate of a mile a minute and reached New 

 Orleans in time. 



I put up with the rest of them at the St. 

 Charles Hotel, and at night went to the fight 

 with a letter for admission from the editor of 

 the Mercury. 



I can describe the fight briefly by saying 

 that owing to Fitzsimmon's roughness and 

 general coarse bringing up, I never had an 

 occasion to even unwrap the banner that cost 

 $150. So the next day I traded it off to a 

 colored boy for an alligator, thinking at the 

 time I would exhibit the alligator at the small 

 towns on the road the following season. 

 'Twas the first one I had ever seen and I 

 thought they were worth a great deal of money 

 until next day the chambermaid in the St. 

 Charles Hotel told me they cost thirty cents. 



The next evening in the hotel lobby, Billy 

 Vice of San Francisco came up to me and 

 said, "Here is your $22; I got the railroad 



