inexpensive. Colonel Stambaugh favored me with a parting gift, the "Manual of Surveying Instructions," which I preserve as a reminiscence, and a cocktail whose aroma still lingers in my olfactories. My last evening was spent with Mr. Stambaugh, when Mr. John Taylor was present, and where, with the kindly aid of Madam, we drank a café au lait as good as the Café de Paris affords. I thanked the governor for his frank and generous hospitality, and made my acknowledgments to his amiable wife. All my adieux were upon an extensive scale, the immediate future being somewhat dark and menacing.
The start in these regions is coquettish as in Eastern Africa. We were to depart on Wednesday, the 19th of September, at 8 A.M.—then 10 A.M.—then 12 A.M.—then, after a deprecatory visit, on the morrow. On the morning of the eventful next day, after the usual amount of "smiling," and a repetition of adieux, I found myself "all aboord," wending southward, and mentally ejaculating Hierosolymam quando revisam?
Mount Nebo.
CHAPTER XII.
To Ruby Valley.
Mounted upon a fine mule, here worth $240, and "bound" to fetch in California $400, and accompanying a Gentile youth who answered to the name of Joe, I proceeded to take my first lesson
