250 ^ A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



around me, a genuine ingrain carpet on the floor, and seats 

 upholstered with real cotton plush ! Tramps, such as I had 

 been, down on deck and not allowed above, and the better sort 

 of people for my company. I could hardly realize that I was 

 steaming athwart a ferry which I had lately crossed through 

 charity, and was opposite a town where I was glad to get a good 

 horse-stall to sleep in. 



Around me the up-river passengers, wearied with their 

 long passage, were sleepily lounging on sofas and chairs, 

 while the newly acquired ones sauntered idly around or sat 

 reading. Soon the hotel-runner, who had boarded our craft 

 at Benicia, made his appearance. I could tell him in advance 

 by his gentlemanly dress and address, his dangling watch- 

 chain on a background of satin vest, his glossy hat and his 

 smooth tongue, and his peculiar way of introducing his sub- 

 ject. Placidly smiling he accosts you. He takes a random 

 lingual voyage on the sea of prevailing topics, and by rare and 

 skilful pilotage brings you by easy stages to the present hotel 

 system ; from that to the way in which San Francisco cara- 

 vanseries are conducted, and from that to the hotel whose 

 representative and "barker" you are at length made aware 

 your interlocutor is. Having sown this much he leaves it to 

 bring forth fruit, and seeks for other victims. Scarcely are you 

 rid of him when another of the same genus makes his appear- 

 ance and gives you to understand that his predecessor was a 

 " Sydney Cove," or escaped convict, and the hotel he repre- 

 sents is entirely beneath the patronage of one of your gentle- 

 manly appearance, and then vaunts the accommodations of 

 the " Wiggins House." He leaves you at last, only to be followed 

 by others of the same ilk, whose rear is brought up by the 

 importunate No. 1. By persistent ding-donging and satis- 

 factory self-vindication he gets into your confidence, and you 

 grudgingly promise to patronize his hotel. 



Meanwhile, with a persistent, pulmonic cough, properly 



