So interested had most of the passengers been, that they had omitted to collect their baggage and make the grand rush as at Chagres. But now at the dropping of the anchor the charm was broken. Helter-skelter they all ran, to be ready for the first landing, but suddenly were halted by the word that nobody could go until morning. The ship must first be examined by the health officer. So a howl of dismay and arose.  
"The captain thinks he'll keep us aboard all night, does he? Well, he can't and nobody else can, either. Ain't that right?"
 
Charley had been carried along by the rush to gather the baggage; and now this voice at his elbow. He looked quickly, and saw the profile of the long-nosed man, who was talking to one of his partners.
 
"There'll be plenty of boats around, and plenty of sailors taking French leave for the mines," continued the long-nosed man. "We'll just join 'em. We've got too big a stake ahead of us, to waste a night here."
 
"Sure. We'll let the other party do the wasting," answered the partner. "We're ahead, so far, and we'll stay ahead."
 
"All right. Keep your eyes and ears open, and a little money in your hand, and at the first chance, we leave. Tell , if you see him before I do."
 
Charley slipped away. So the long-nosed man's party were planning to go ashore anyhow, were they? Well, he'd see about that. He'd tell his father, who'd tell the captain, and the captain would make them play fair.
 
But his father shook his head, after Charley had excitedly appealed.
 
"No, we won't do a thing. Grigsby and I had anyway that we'd better stay on board till morning. We'll all gain nothing by going ashore in the dark, Charley. Sherman says it's a place to find your way around in, and it's full of the riff-raff of all nations, besides the better people. As for the Jacobs party, what they do is none of our business. They'll deny that they have any notion of going—and then they'll go, just the same. The captain has other things to tend to, than watching the passengers."
 
"But they'll beat us," complained Charley.
 
"Nonsense," laughed his father. "The trail is the longest way 'round. When they get ashore in the dark they'll not be much nearer the end than we are. We'll mind our own business and play fair, and then you'll see who comes out ahead at last."
 
"Is that San Francisco?" quavered somebody near them, at the rail. She was one of the worn, women who had traveled the Gila trail. "It looks like a big camp-meetin'."
 
And so San Francisco did! Many more lights had been struck; a few here and there, as if they were being carried about, but the majority appeared to be behind canvas, through which they shone with pale yellow glow. Evidently even some of the business buildings were only canvas; and these, and the multitude of tents, gleamed dully like a great encampment. Voices sounded constantly, echoing across the water; hammering never ceased; music floated—strains of violin and and piano! From the water-front clear back up the sides of the hills San Francisco was alive by night as by day. And on the hour all the in the harbor struck their bells, in a great, chime.
 
Charley and his father and Mr. Grigsby stood long at the rail, as did the other passengers, gazing at the dim shore and its multitude of lights, and talking. The whole ship seemed to be athrill with great expectations; row-boats approached, circled and mysteriously lingered, as if awaiting; and the little waves murmured low and , as they slapped against the steamer's sides.
 
Yes, after the trip of forty days and nights from New Orleans (fifty from New York!), and of six thousand miles, by water, and twenty miles by land, here they all were, at anchor off the Land of Gold.
 
Charley rather hated to turn in. However, the three of them went to bed, at ten o'clock, and San Francisco was still as lively as ever. Once, in the night, Charley woke up, thinking that he heard a soft hail and the splash of . He wondered if the long-nosed man's party were taking their "French leave." He sat up and peered out of the open door; and there, across the water, were the lights of San Francisco, and the of voices and hammers and music. , San Francisco didn't sleep.
 
All in all, it wasn't a very good night for sleeping, anywhere. Some of the passengers on the decks talked the whole night through, it seemed to Charley, discussing plans. At daylight began a general stir, to prepare to go ashore, the Adams party were ready about as soon as anybody, waiting for the boats to start their trips. Luggage was piled high, everywhere aboard; and by sunrise people were impatient.
 
It happened to be a beautiful morning, with wisps of fog drifting out to sea. How large the bay was, extending north and south and three miles wide! were numerous, rolling their backs through the tumbling gray surface; sailed and circled and screamed; and there was a , grunty barking which Mr. Grigsby said was from sea-lions, on the rocks of the shore.
 
Now San Francisco lay revealed, from the of the water's edge, on back up the sides of the bare rounded hills behind.
 
"Who would have thought, when I came out here with Frémont," murmured Mr. Grigsby, as they three gazed again at the town, "that the old hide landing of Yerba Buena would have jumped to this. My idea for a city would be the other side of the bay, on the mainland. But here was the starter, boats were used to it, and nothing can stop the place now."
 
"It's not very pretty, that's sure," commented Mr. Adams.
 
And indeed, evidently built of anything that came to hand, with its houses in , hasty fashion, and the country around bare and brown and , San Francisco did not look attractive. But the bay was grand; and the hundreds of ships flying the flags of the United States, and England, and France and Spain and Mexico and Germany and Denmark and Sweden, were interesting beyond words. There were several United States men-of-war. One, the line-of-battle-ship Ohio, lay not far away from the California. How tremendous she looked, with her yards all , and the round, black of her staring out through her open ports! Nothing could lick her, decided Charley, proudly.
 
A fleet of rowboats put out to the California, for the business of taking passengers and baggage ashore. The ship's boats also began work early; and now, at last, Charley found himself in a skiff and making for the shore. He did not see any of the Jacobs party, on the decks or in the other boats. As like as not, then, they had away during the night.
 
The one toward which the boat seemed to be making was crowded with people and piled high with baggage. Every inch appeared occupied—and now another difficulty presented. The tide was out, for the water ended a quarter of a mile from the shore! The boat stopped.
 
"Here you are," said one of the boatmen. "Tumble out."
 
"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Adams. "We've paid you two dollars each to take us ashore. You don't expect us to walk through this mud, do you?"
 
"Walk or fly. This is shore, as you can see for yourself. Boats don't travel on , in this country."
 
Other boats also were being stuck, and many of the passengers were already knee-deep in , for the dry land.
 
"An !" exclaimed Mr. Adams.
 
"We can't control the tides, stranger, even in California," spoke the other boatman. "We can leave you here and come again in about four hours and take you the rest of the way for two dollars more. Tide'll be turned by that time."
 
"What'll you charge to carry us in from here, now?" asked Mr. Grigsby.
 
"Five dollars apiece for self and baggage."
 
"Come on, Charley," bade Mr. Adams. "Off with your boots and stockings. We can do as the rest do."
 
"That's the talk," approved Mr. Grigsby.
 
Barefooted, trousers rolled high, out they stepped, and their bed rolls and other hand baggage, for the shore.
 
"Five dollars apiece!" muttered Mr. Grigsby. "Money must be cheap out here."
 
"If that's a sample of prices, the quicker Charley and I get out of town, the better," answered Mr. Adams. "Eh, Charley?"
 
All along the stretch of tide-flats passengers from the California were wading ashore. The women were being carried pickaback—and screamed when their helpers stumbled. It was a comical sight, for several men already had tripped and fallen, and were a mass of mud.
 
A number of men and boys were digging in the mud for . One man they passed had such an odd appearance that Charley turned and stared back at him. He was of a strange yellow , his eyes were set slantwise, he wore a short, loose, bluish frock with wide sleeves, and a round little hat, and down his back hung a long pig-tail.
 
"There's a queer sort of Injun," remarked Mr. Grigsby. "Some sort of a Sandwich Islander, I reckon."
 
"No; that's a Chinese—a Chinaman they call him in New Orleans," said Mr. Adams. "I've seen some down there, and in Mexico, too."
 
"Well, he's an odd one, all right," insisted the Frémonter. And Charley agreed.
 
Th............