202 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



along. My comrade was in no humor for singing his old-time 

 songs, or telling his steamboat adventures, or for talking of the 

 times when, a stage driver over a wild Arkansas route, he 

 " beat " his employers out of the midway fares. He was sub- 

 dued and depressed, and I must admit he had congenial com- 

 pany in me. 



About 10 o'clock, through the darkness, we heard the 

 creaking of wheels, the crack of a whip and the familiar talk 

 indulged in by an ox-driver to his team. We soon caught 

 up with an ox-drawn wagon on which was a cask of wine so 

 large that in the dim light it looked as big as the "Heidelberg 

 tun." This was in transit to the coast. The driver was com- 

 panionable, and for a couple of hours we shared his talk with 

 his oxen. The wine he was hauling was from a vineyard near 

 Los Angeles, and was on its road to San Fransisco, whence it 

 would go to France, thence to New York, where it would mas- 

 querade as Veuve Cliquot in all probability. 



The night air was getting colder, and my blistered feet 

 prevented me walking fast enough to keep warm. I often 

 wished for the overcoat I had thrown away the day before. 

 About midnight we came across a party of travelers who were 

 seated around a fire, and with their permission we sat with 

 them awhile and tried to warm ourselves. We left in an hour, 

 and saying good-bye to our friend the teamster, as well as to 

 Tom and Jerry, his wheelers, and Bill and Barney, his leading 

 oxen — for I heard their names often enough to remember them 

 in connection with threats and entreaties more or less profane 

 — went on our way alone. The wind blew colder and colder, 

 and towards morning we were glad to seek the shelter a 

 friendly bluff afforded, when we built a fire with some coarse 

 weeds and brush we found. With smoke-enforced tears we 

 shivered here until daybreak, when against a wind like a 

 tempest we resumed our way. 



A peculiar noise noAv broke upon our ears, which we rightly 



