Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-17

most any fence corner sits rabbit, with q
premium on his head in many counties,
waiting to be killed and eaten. On any
hedge sings lark; in any dimple of the
hills from here to Mexico the quail pipes
with his many notes the whole year
through. A gun and load of shot or 81 NJ
pier still stout cord and a bent bush for
snare and spring and you have meat in
abundance any hour in the day; and meat
too, fl for a king.
As for the matter of bed, that is as SIM
pie Of solution as the out-at-the-elbow coat.
Every redwood tree is of itself not only a
tent, impervious to rain or sun, but it is al
most an entire hotel. For example,
the whole space and circle under
its spacious and shapely boughs, an area Of
from 25 to 100 feet in diameter, is one. con-
tinuous carpet Carpet 1t is cushion: a
cushion that has cost half century OF time
to make perfect 1t is of soft, subdued,
old gold hue; you sink into it at every step.
And yet so elastic is this carpet that a
horse can make no impression as he passes
even with his iron feet. And the fragrance
of it All the spices of the Orient are not
more delicious, dreamful, luxurious. You
are invited to repose by this perfume, and
sense of silence, and large hberality of ma
ture, by every beckoning tree in redwood
forest
John Gray had literally eaten his ''last
crust" but heavy fowling piece, borrowed
from neighboring hut, leaned in the cor
ner, and he was not without resources. Be-
sides, when you 60 out to sea here, even
with the crudest sailors, you will find
tumbled about the deck somewhere or in
the bottom of the boat heaps Of big sea
crabs, shrimp, and so on. Bread, thick
crusted, and of the best, rolls Of butter like
gold, boiled eggs by the half bushel-these
little details are always at hand here, where
a spanking sail against the thousands of
miles OF uncontaminated air Of the vast Pa
cifc gives you ready relish. These things,
let it be repeated, are as much part of the
boat outfit as one of its planks. And you
help yourself as leisurely and fully to them
all as you do to the air. But in the pres
ence of all the majesty that attends you
here, who shall bend down his face to de-
scribe the art OF tearing asunder the legs Of
sea crab? And who shall stop the thun-
der of the sea OF seas booming and booming
against the granite battlements that wall in
the gold pieces of California to say how
that this man or that woman suddenly grew
hungry, and gracefully leaning over caught
up from lunch basket and adroitly peeled
boiled egg?
John Gray was eager to get back to his
cabin and be alone. He threw himself in at
the opel door, hastily struck light, and
then drew forth his maps from their hiding
place near his heart.
Opening these out on the table he tried to
apply what knowledge he had that day
gained to the solution of the one great prob
lem. For now he was certain beyond possi-
bility of doubt OF the tfuth of his theory.
The buried river was fact, He had sailed
bv its mouth. He had heard it muttering in
its muddy bed below. The great buried
river that once had drained all the world
west Of the Rocky Mountains and flowed
from Salt Lake to the sea had had the
Golden Gate for its mouth.
He was sitting at that moment above the
bubbling, roaring waters OF the buried river.
He had not dime in his pocket; but down
there, deep down, almost as the level of the
ocean, was river that was literally paved
with gold.
He went to the door and looked out. The
moon was setting fast in the Golden Gate;
little time to lose. He must look into that
Indian well that night and before Farla
could come back from the island.