The San Francisco call., 1897-05-16

machln3t1onS. he did but not LOT long
We reached Redwood City the same
evening, Melpomene completely ex-
hausted and suffering from the gout n
her left leg. The heat throughout the
day had been excessive, and for once in
my life, as the pedals scorched my feet
and the sun taught my face and neck a
redder hue than red, 1 appreciated the
feelings of st. Lawrence basking upon the
gridiron.
The fact is we were treated with con-
tumely by several coarse minded livery
men, circumstance which puzzled us
considerably until bystander thought
fully informed US that we were taken for
horse thieves!
'We shall have to make San Jose," said
Davie, as we resumed our weary Pilgrim
age, 'and see if the liverymen there can
recognize first-class mare when they see
one. This kind of thing Is calculated to
give fellow"
Here Melpomene wanted to kneel down
and say her prayers and DAVE had mar
row escape from death.
A mile from Redwood City 1 surrendered
the wheel to Davie and jumped into the
saddle.
Tired as she was Melpomene resented
the extra weight and turned again to Eu-
cid for diversion; but this time forgot
all about the band of kindness and re-
mem bered instead the words of Solomon,
"Spare the rod and spoil the mare" We
reached San Jose in the evening. battered
wrecks with the exception of the wheel.
A friend in need advanced me $40 on the
mare and bought secondhand wheel,
though the effort almost reduced me to a
condition of insolvency.
We made a highly auspicious start
from San Jose, albeit my joy at this
happy turn of affairs was somewhat
chastened by the discovery that / had
lost three pairs of socks and half dozen
hankerchiefs somewhere on the road.
sThen we are lostr' CALCULATED Davie,
striking an attitude. "The bloodhounds
will have snap"
What did he mean?
Fifteen miles from San Jose and In the
midst of twenty an hour clip nv
handIe-bars came off, and 80 did l. AS I
fell heard Saturn smile, and it is an in
disputable fact that l saw more stars than
one, but thanked none of them. A
wheel with splints and baling rope, and
after few preliminary tumbles 1 man
aged to follow in Davies wake. But three
miles of this ruined the binatiou,
though 1 succeeded in covering another
mile with the handle-bars pointing due
north and south.
The situation will be more readily un-
derstood when add that we were riding
south. We went into caucus three miles
from GilroJ, and with the assistance of a
local wheelman again repaired the Grip
pied bike. We thundered into Gilroy
later In the day. and stayed there long
enough to drink a lemonade apiece.
1--WE must make San Juan this even
ing,' said Davie, with confidenc CO, and /
cheerfully assented, forgetting for the
moment my baleiul horoscope. Saturn.
however, refused to be propitiated and
six miles from Gilroy my handle bars
again parted company from the fork and
parted com pany from the saddle. Davie
regretted that he had forgotten his kodak
"a regret did not share.
We quite enjoyed tho romantic walk to
Gilroy. The telegraph wires played seIec.
tions from Chopln's funeral march and
when Johnny Comes Marching Home"
but We were not to be bluffed.
The chapter of accidents virtually ends
at Gilroy, where we had the wheel
strongly repaired. It is true we were
compelled to take the boat from
Port Hartford to San Pedro, travel
ing steerage in the elevating COM
pany OF negroes, Cinnamon and
mt oh
for twenty-four hours and the captain and
the purser logically sustained the ominous
tenor OF our trip by shooting seagulls, the