A SAN FRANCISCAN DAY. 265 



" Bulletin " and start for a stroll, as warm as it is, and move 

 lazily down the pavement. I saunter down towards the 

 wharves and find myself in the clutches of sellers of slop- 

 clothing and " Cheap Johns," who toss me about, one to 

 another, like a foot-ball. Breaking loose from these purse- 

 emptying rogues, I continue on my way over w^ooden streets 

 and by houses and shops on piles, around whose foundations 

 I hear the low wash of waves, until I reach the end of the 

 wharf. 



Sail-furled ships with their net-like shrouds and tapering 

 masts in numbers are riding at anchor in the bay, or are 

 chained, like restive bull-dogs, to the wharves. Clumsy square- 

 rigged craft from the Sacramento, San Joaquin and the lesser 

 tributaries of the bay are rising and falling with the sw^ell, or 

 heavily bumping their slimy sides against the piers. Above 

 me is a huge Panama steamer, slowly shifting with the tide. 

 Far out in the bay is a man-of-war, its death ful guns dia- 

 bolically grinning through many a port. It is the French 

 frigate " Eurydice," lately arrived after a long voyage. A gig 

 is lowered, and as it nears I see in it the captain and some of 

 his under-officers coming to the city. With measured stroke 

 the boat darts into a dock and halts at a clumsy stairway. The 

 officers mount these to the wharf, all glittering in epaulettes 

 and gold lace. There is an American man-of-war's man in the 

 vicinity who, on a furlough, or to suit his convenience, has 

 come down to " Frisco " from his ship at the navy yard at 

 Vallejo. He has been drinking freely, and feels jolly, sarcastic 

 and adventurous. He speaks sneeringly of the French sailors 

 manning the gig, and tells them — only they don't understand 

 him — that his ship can whip a dozen such as theirs. He is 

 bantered to go and shake hands with the French captain, and 

 vows he will do it. Giving the quid in his squirrel-like cheek 

 another roll, he marches forward, his gait combining the roll 

 of the quarter-deck with the stagger of the drunkard. He 



