266 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



fronts the dapper captain and, saluting him, grasps his delicate 

 hand with his tar-stained paw, much to the amusement of the 

 Frenchman. Then he turns away with a smile on his lip and 

 a leer in his eye. 



I walk over to the San Antonio Ferry. A boat is lying there 

 read}^ to start. It costs but two bits to cross, and I go aboard. 

 The signal rings and the boat darts out among the waves. 

 How the waters sparkle in the meridian sunlight ! A cool 

 breeze is coming through the Golden Gate. It fans my throb- 

 bing brow and drives away the eyinui which has hung over me 

 like an incubus since morning. Little " white caps " are dis- 

 porting on the crests of the more sedate overgrown waves. 

 The white sails of the river craft are swelled to life from their 

 limber lethargy and flap and bend before the welcome breeze, 

 slowly dragging their cumbrous burdens along. White-breasted 

 sea-gulls, big and little, go flying over the water or suddenly 

 dive below. I am across the bay, and the boat lies moored at 

 Oakland. I remember it as the town from whence I started 

 on my tramp for work. I see the prairie before me and the 

 mountain beyond over which I wearily walked, and I feel 

 thankful that I am not on the same journey again ! The plain 

 of Contra Costa, then clouded in mist, is now bright and 

 green, and so is the ridge beyond. The boat doubles on its 

 course and returns and I am again in San Francisco. Here 

 comes John Chinaman, transplanted representative of pig- 

 tailed Orientalism, trigged out in all the oddity of his national 

 clothing. His cap, with its rim turned up at a sharp angle, 

 seems especially adapted for catching rain. His collarless coat 

 of blue hangs loosely about him and eke his short ample 

 breeches. Jealous of his queue is John. Time was when 

 maliciously disposed Americans would slip up behind him 

 and cut it off" — the production of a lifetime. Nothing could 

 outrage John's dignity more ; sooner would he lose his head. 

 But his rights are better protected than of yore, and these 



