BY PYE POD.
Who can tell a man from manners?
Who can tell him by his close?
Beggars often smoke Havanners;
Nabobs wear a bottle-nose.
--_Dog-eared Doggerels._
Placerville greeted us royally. It was once one of the largest
cities in California, and in those lawless days was called
Hangtown. After describing my journey in my happiest vein, the
thoughtful sheriff passed his hat and presented me with about nine
dollars. Then amid hearty cheers for Mac A'Rony, we were escorted
to a hotel.
That evening Coonskin and I were fêted by the young "bloods" of
the town.
The following morning a jolly party drove me to Coloma, where I saw
the statue of Marshall, and old Sutter's Mill, where he discovered
gold. It was a lovely autumn day. The leaves were turning, but the
verdure of the Pacific slope is more subdued in its colorings than
that of the East, where the change of seasons embellishes it with
scarlet. My genial companions were refreshing to me after being so
long a recluse, but, returning to Placerville, I dined and wasted
no time in starting for Sacramento. Coonskin had shipped to San
Francisco most of our luggage, to relieve our animals, and at two
p. m. my little caravan drifted toward the Sacramento Valley.
The next stop was Folsom, the seat of a state prison, twenty
miles away, where we arrived at midnight. All the inhabitants
seemed to be asleep. We were noisily debating about which street
to follow, when a man called from a chamber window, and directed
us to the best hotel, saying he would call on me in the morning.
He introduced himself after breakfast as an officer of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and asked to see my
donkeys. I escorted him to the stable, but I feared trouble. I
knew three of my donkeys were galled since leaving Carson, and was
so solicitous that I sent Coonskin to have the blankets and
saddles cinched on them for the start, hoping the officer would be
guided by the wisdom of the proverb, "What the eye cannot see the
heart cannot grieve for."
You may imagine how disconcerted I was when the officer uncinched
the saddle on Skates, the one most galled, and lifted the blanket.
"I am sorry to say, Mr. Pod," said he calmly, "I must arrest you
for cruelty to animals."
I protested, and explained that my valet and I had been as tender
and solicitous for our animals' health and comfort as a father
could have been for a child; that we had tramped across both
passes from Carson; and that the galls resulted from unavoidable
loosening of the cinches and the shifting of the saddles. We had
even changed the packs from one animal to another at frequent
intervals to distribute equally the general burden. If he doubted
my word we would show him our feet.
The sight of our sore and bleeding feet caused the "humane"
officer to blush at his threat, and as a sympathetic murmur ran
through the crowd he said: "Professor, I must say, you men are
exonerated. You are as bad off as your poor donkeys, but I cannot
let you take this animal out of town in that condition."
[Illustration: "_Across on the exclusive Solano._"]
[Illustration: "_I pointed toward the goal._"]
[Illustration: "_The Ferry approach in 'Frisco was choked with a
rabble._"]
I was grieved to part with Skates, who had piloted us across the
summits in that heavy storm, but the law must be obeyed. I sold
the donkey to a son of the hotel landlord, who promised to cherish
her as a pet. We were allowed to proceed with the rest on
condition that neither of us would ride.
It was a long day's journey to the capital, upwards of thirty
miles, and we got under way by nine o'clock. Coonskin and I could
scarcely walk, and as we drove our three jaded burros down the
main street we were cheered on every hand. After reaching the open
country Mac A'Rony, observing me screw my face and hearing me sigh
from pain, seemed to say: "I'm sorry, old man, but when we are out
of sight of those meddling officers, get in the saddle and I will
carry you a way." The dear fellow; he could read me like a book.
We threaded a lovely country. The orchards were denuded of fruit
and verdure, but the vineyards were laden with their white and
pink and purple harvest, and the waving alfalfa sent us whiffs
from their fragrant censers all along the trail. We stopped at the
great Sonora Vineyard to rest and enjoy some Muscat grapes; and
shortly after lunch hour, we rested again at a weighing station,
where I received a telephone message inquiring when we might be
expected at the capital.
Handkerchiefs and hats were waving from the balconies of the
Golden Eagle Hotel, Sacramento, and newsboys were crying the
arrival of Pod and Mac A'Rony as we approached. While I had
tramped most all of the way from Folsom, I rode into the city, and
after a brief address at the hotel, sent my animals to the stable.
The landlord welcomed me cordially, and I was immediately assailed
by reporters. The next morning a newspaper man took me driving
about the city. I was presented to several state officials, and
shown through the handsomest state capitol grounds in the Union.
Half the day was devoted to business duties; in the evening I
delivered a lecture; and several times I was asked to escort a
party of ladies to the stable to see the donkey that enjoyed the
unrivaled distinction of having made a 4,000 mile journey from the
Hudson to the Sacramento.
Next day we started for 'Frisco at eight a. m. Just five days were
left us in which to travel the ninety miles to our goal. There
were many who advised me to go by way of Stockton, a longer
journey by forty miles, cautioning me that my donkeys would not be
allowed to cross in the "Solano" ferry at Benicia, which was
reserved strictly for people and passenger trains.
But we started on the shorter route, Mac and I leading the way out
of the beautiful city and along the banks of the Sacramento River,
through the toolies and hop fields towards Davisville.
When yet a mile to town, Damfino while not even carrying a saddle,
staggered and showed symptoms of the colic. The noble beast had
done her duty on the hard trip from Iowa, and being the biggest
and strongest, she had borne the heaviest burden. She had earned
her freedom. I decided to leave her by the roadside. Somebody
would soon find her, and take good care of her; which I afterwards
learned to be the case.
Next morning Coonskin and I set out early with the remaining two
donkeys, Mac A'Rony and Coxey, for Suisun, some twenty-five miles
away, we walking two-thirds of the distance for the sake of our
animals, although augmenting our own sufferings, for our feet
still pained us. My dog, Don, on the other hand, was full of
health and abrim with mirth.
Suisun welcomed us at sunset. That evening a happy idea came to
mind; I would send Coonskin to Oakland by train. Considerable
business must be done there which he could attend to, besides, he
might arrange for hotel and stable accommodations, and engage a
blacksmith to put on Mac A'Rony the silver shoes which should be
at the express office in that city. There was left me three days
in which to travel fifty miles, but now I could ride alternately
the two donks and not overtax either.
I was received with usual courtesies at Benicia, and the hotel
swarmed with townspeople and guests to hear about my trip.
At nine next morning a sympathetic crowd accompanied me to the
ferry, fully expecting to see my party refused passage.
"You cannot board the Solano with your burros," said the officer,
positively; "the boat is strictly reserved for passenger trains
and people."
I did not show surprise, but calmly explained my overland trip,
and emphasized the importance of my reaching 'Frisco with Mac by
noon of November 3.
"Will you send a message to the Southern Pacific's head office at
my expense?" I asked. The officer said he would, and sent it. The
answer soon came directing the ferrymaster to pass Pod and party
across on the exclusive Solano and extend us every courtesy.
The officer seemed much astonished at receiving the message. His
obsequiousness made Mac A'Rony bray. When the expected train
arrived and the Solano left the dock and the passengers realized
that they were the first to cross in the company of four-legged
donkeys, they treated to cigars and fruit and paid Mac A'Rony
exceptional homage.
Landing at Porte Costa, I was directed on the shortest route to
Oakland, and amid cheers and hearty well-wishes started to climb
the trail over the hills which border the river from that point to
some distance south.
It was after dark when, descending the bluffs and trailing a few
miles along the river, I rode into the little village of San
Pablo. The streets were quite deserted, and the few men I talked
with answered my inquiries in Spanish. Finally, I entered a humble
tavern whose Irish proprietor directed me on the right road. Only
a few miles now lay between me and Oakland, and although tired and
hungry I did not stop for supper, but pushed onward over the level
road, now and then walking a half mile to rest my tired yet
uncomplaining mounts or to ease my joints, until I rode into the
city at midnight. Coonskin met me on the road and cheered me with
the information that all the duties assigned to him were attended
to, then piloted me to the hotel and the animals to the stable.
After getting something to eat I retired.
Coonskin had interviewed the reporters, and the morning press
heralded my advent in long and sensational notices. When I went to
the stable everybody seemed to identify me with the traveler
pictured in the papers. I inwardly chuckled when I thought of my
dilapidated garb and general unkempt appearance. I was still lame
and felt that I had walked around the world in eighty days.
My poor little donks were lying down when I went to their stalls.
The twenty-eight-mile tramp of the preceding day had told on them.
Mac rose to his feet and stuck up his nose to be rubbed.
"You have almost earned your pension, too," I said. "But now come
to the smith's to have your new shoes put on. They are of pure
silver, and befitting one that has made such a record in the
field of travel." The little fellow smiled, and playfully pulled
the handkerchief out of my pocket while I adjusted his bridle. And
when he walked out of the shop "in" his pretty new shoes he looked
as proud as any lad in his first pair of pants.
Coonskin and I lunched early. The customary crowd followed my party
to the ferry, and some crossed with us on the boat to 'Frisco. How
happy I felt while drifting over San Francisco Bay! I pointed
toward the goal, and to a bystander, said: "During my 340 days'
journey, I have had only a vague vision of the city before me, but
the day I started from New York I felt as confident of reaching it
as I do now." Several passengers laughed incredulously;
nevertheless I spoke the truth.
The ferry approach in 'Frisco was choked with a rabble. Upon
landing Coonskin and I rode our little long-eared animals up
Market street to a prominent hotel, a cheering throng of men and
street gamins tagging behind or following by the walk on both
sides of the street. And when at two o'clock the glass doors to
its great white court were thrown open to us, I was just
twenty-two hours ahead of schedule time.
The several rows of balconies were crowded with hotel guests and
friends waving handkerchiefs and hats, and cheer upon cheer rose
to the crystal roof and descended to our ears. The court was
packed. I called a porter.
"Bring a rug for my silver-shod donkey to stand on," I ordered.
The darkey looked mystified, and had the insolence to question my
strange request, but he soon brought the rug. The reporters aided
me to urge back the crowd to give the spectators in the balconies
a view of Mac's silver-shod hoofs, all four of which Coonskin
lifted, one after the other, for them to see.
"Three cheers for Mac A'Rony!" some one shouted from the balcony.
It was the signal for a general outburst of applause; and Mac,
Coxey and Don, each, respectively, brayed or bayed his deafening
acknowledgment of the popular ovation.
Then I briefly reviewed my long and tempestuous voyage of 4,096
miles on a donkey's hurricane deck in 340 days and two hours.
Frequently I was interrupted with laughter or cheers, as I cited
some ludicrous experience, and the unbridled throng, many of them
mere street loungers, laughed and yelled and whistled until,
finally, the incensed manager was attracted to the Court. The
police were unable to cope with the crowd, so I was requested to
remove the cause of the disturbance. Indeed I was grateful for the
excuse to get away from that wild scene. Coonskin took the animals
to the stable, and I, after registering, immediately sought a more
exclusive hotel, to whose landlord I bore a letter of introduction
from a distinguished gentleman friend.
I must have looked as if I had crossed Central Africa and had
fought fifty tribes of cannibals. My clothes, hat and leggings
were in shreds, my sleeves were fastened to my coat with
bale-wire, and blue cotton hung in view.
"Do you take tramps at this hotel?" I inquired of the astonished
clerk of the Occidental, as I leaned on the office counter. He
stopped sorting letters and eyed me with curiosity, but before he
recovered his reason, the junior proprietor appeared, and said:
"Sometimes," then with a knowing smile extended his hand in
greeting.
"I believe this is Mr. Pod," he said. I nodded and handed him the
letter. When he had read it the affable young gentleman extended
me the freedom of the hotel and three days later got up a coaching
party in my honor.
I was soon a transformed man. After a shave and hair-cut and bath,
I dressed and appeared at the office attired as a gentleman on
parade, and was hardly recognized by the clerk to be the same man.
Coonskin, too, I had fitted out completely; besides I gave him a
sum of money and an honorable discharge. In a few days he secured
a situation in a hotel, but later set out for a mining camp in the
Sierras to dig for gold.
I presented one donkey to Golden Gate Park, and sold the other,
but I retained possession of my dog. Frequently afterward I called
at the park to see dear old faithful Mac A'Rony.
In conclusion, let me state that I had eleven donkeys on my
overland trip, never more than five at one time. I wore out ten
pairs of boots, and put one hundred and forty-eight shoes on my
animals at an average cost of ninety cents each, and arrived at my
journey's end with several hundred dollars in pocket and weighing
thirty-three pounds more than I did the day I set out from New
York with ninety-nine cents.
"I am as free as Nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in the woods the noble savage ran."
EPILOGUE
This tale will be hard to swallow, because truth is stronger than
fiction.
The trip was more healthful for Pod than for me.
There are four distinct distances across the American continent,
viz:
Three thousand miles as the crow flies.
Three thousand five hundred as the train steams.
Four thousand by overland trail for a man.
A million miles as a donkey goes.
The most monotonous constant companion for a long journey is a
man.
There are more people who descend to the level of a jackass than
donkeys that rise to the plane of man.
If Pye Pod had been killed or drowned, or had died on the journey
he would have been condemned and ridiculed as a fool by the same
people who now applaud and envy him for his achievement.
If I had died on the first day of the trip the world would have
called me lucky; now that I lived through it, I'm d----d lucky!
M. A'R.
TRANSCRIBER ENDNOTE:
End-of-line hyphens have been retained or discarded to
maintain internal consistency, when possible.
In table of contents, for page 213, "XXVII." changed to "XXVIII."
For page 219 entry, "Accross" changed to "Across".
Page 49: in "he did it them.", "them" to "then".
Page 50: the quotation mark at the end of the paragraph that ends
with "[...] to his quarters." has no obvious mate, unless at the
beginning of the paragraph on page 49 "Those who were not 'let
in' to [...]" If so, then this would be a long quotation
containing five paragraphs, with only two quotation marks, other
than embedded short quotations. It has been formatted (e.g. by
indentation) as such herein.
Some instances of the odd use of quotation marks have been retained.
Others--which seemed clearly wrong or misleading, have been changed.
Some were changed silently, but a few of these are listed below.
Page 102: one "the" removed from "visiting the homes of the the
great".
Page 107: "protographs" to "photographs".
Page 109: "into his hay loft.." to "into his hay loft." Similar
corrections on page 121 and 126. Also fixed a double comma on page
255.
Page 120: "semed" to "seemed".
Page 130: "Exixer" to "Elixir". Missing quotation mark inserted
after "moral?".
Page 166: "accompained" to "accompanied".
Page 173: period added to the end of "The topography of the
country varied but little".
Page 190: period added to end of paragraph.
Page 193: quotation mark with no mate removed from start of
paragraph beginning with "I did not discuss further".
Page 200: quotation mark with no mate removed from "I recalled how
I had been swindled [...]".
Page 211: "wheeel" to "wheel".
Page 212: in "caught the animated beg before it", "beg" to "bag".
Page 216: missing quotation mark inserted for "a pity to have
[...]".
Page 218: "Fnally" to "Finally".
Page 224: "smaal" to "small".
Page 246: excess quotation mark removed after "companion.".
Page 253: "Hhat" to "That".
Page 258: "I thing the whole" to "I think the whole".
Page 260: "Buy" to "But".
Page 278: "comething" to "something". Also, "house" to "hours".
Page 308: missing quotation mark inserted. Also in illustration
facing page 312.
Page 313: missing "it" inserted.
Page 341: quotation mark inserted after "patient.".
Page 376: "I answered. coarsely," to "I answered coarsely,".
Page 377: quotation mark inserted after "of water,".
Page 381: "to save him-" to "to save himself."
Page 410: missing quotation mark inserted before "Ain't nobody
livin'". Also, extraneous single quote deleted after "blasted
cat,". Also, "wasn"t" to "wasn't".
In this text version, italics that originally served specifically
for emphasis have been converted to uppercase. Small-caps text has
also been represented by uppercase. Italics that seemed merely to
set off titles, words or phrases from the context have been
_marked with underscores_ before and after.