166 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK. 



its famed savant, who thought it would be highly 

 imprudent of me to proceed farther without hia 

 advice — and a bottle of his ^^Seven-Sealed Wonder." 



Anxious to naake Rochester at the earliest moment 

 possible, I had no time to discuss the merits of this 

 great elixir, so, noting tiie price on the face of the 

 bottle, I handed this modest disciple of ^sculapius 

 the amount due, although he generously protested, and 

 congratulating myself upon being the most highly 

 favored traveller between Boston and San Francisco, 

 rode away. 



On a hill just beyond the village and well out of 

 sight, I came upon an old barn standing to the left of 

 the road, on whose front I noticed a huge door with a 

 knothole in the centre. Now was my opportunity for 

 unsealing the " Wonder." In an instant I brought 

 Paul to a standstill and rising in the saddle, tried my 

 luck. The " Wonder " fell short of the mark, but it met 

 a resistance from the old door which effectually tested 

 its powers, and in my humble opinion placed the good 

 doctor high up in his profession. This momentary 

 diversion over, I again resumed the march, vowing 

 that this would be my last experiment with "sealed 

 wonders" and that hereafter I would confine my 

 treatment to bathing Paul's back with warm water 

 and castile soap, whose virtue I had learned in the 

 cavalry service during the war. 



Found that the Rochester papers had been discuss- 

 ing my military record before my arrival, and that 

 ihe Express and Sunday Morning Times had upheld 

 my cause against the Union, which had ventured some 

 falsehoods on the ground that my " youthful appear- 

 ance " belied my experience as a soldier. With this 



