ON THE TRAMP. 223 



our pipes and tried to forget our troubles. The clink of the 

 two solitary dimes in my pocket reminded me that they would 

 have to swell to fifty cents before they would take me across 

 the ferry to Benicia ; and we must do that to go on to Sacra- 

 mento, and I was sore puzzled as to how the difficulty was to 

 be obviated ; besides, w^e were as hungry as owls. However, 

 " Scottie" seemed to have a spare dime, with which he bought 

 a loaf of bread, which, on account of its lightness, contained 

 about as much nourishment as so much dried fog, and with 

 this we left the comfortable stove for the stable and took our 

 places in the stall. We looked so tired out that the hostler did 

 not think it w^orth while to put a pole between us, and, so 

 leaving us, we lay down to sleep along with the other roadsters 

 in the barn. 



The next morning, without any preliminary grooming or 

 feeding, we left our stable and went to the wharf, where, in an 

 hour's time, the ferry-boat landed. Willing to run the risk of 

 being put on shore w^hen the captain found out the condition 

 of my bank account, I went on board with " Scottie." Luckily 

 for me that officer did not come around for the fare until the 

 boat had started. When he came my heart worked up toward 

 my throat when I had to tell him I had but twenty cents, 

 which I offered him. "If that is all you have," said he, 

 " keep it till you can pay me ! " Here was a slice of practical 

 Christianity in a state so covered with mortgages of the Arch- 

 Enemy ! 



Our boat was soon over, and stepping ashore I found my- 

 self in Benicia, once the capital of California and named after 

 General Vallejo's daughter, who was dead and lay buried 

 among the green hills back of the town. Vallejo, a short 

 distance off, was to have been the capital, and to secure it the 

 General spent $100,000 on state buildings, which were unused 

 and went to ruin ; a new whim having seized the authorities. 

 Benicia was then a government post, having extensive bar- 



