Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-03-17
Written for the Ledger.
RIDING AN OK.


Yes, know that fs his full name for
he told me so. I thought the name
sounded a little peculiar when fret
heard 1t and, although nearly half .
century has elapsed since then, have
never forgotten it.
During the spring and summer OF
1854 / was ranching on the west side
of the Sacramento river, about 2 miles
below the city. Halt a mile back from
the river there was q broad belt OF
tules pronounced toolies) bordering
a large shallow lake, and all the moss
In the Klondyke country could not
have held a candle to those tules for
the production OF mosq uitoes.
About 4 O'Clock every afternoon
those mosquitoes would rise from the
tules in q dense black cloud that would
darken the sun and make straight for
the river, and from that time until
midnight, when it always turned cold,
there was not q moments rest for
them. And it seemed to me that every
Internal mosquito in the whole outfit
had a long bill to present which / had
to pay in blood.
But, about the first of September, ]
suddenly ran up against snag that
double discounted the mosquitoes, and
that was the s'chills." Did you ever
have the ague7 Well, you have good
reason to thank your lucky stars II
you haven't, for it is certainly the
most detestable, disgusting and damn
able disease that human flesh is heir
to. And this is about the way it works:
You will get up in the morning feel.
ing as fresh and clipper as a young
knocking bird and with an appetite that
would make famished wolf ashamed
OF himself.
After you have filled your stomach
iclear to the brim with any kind oi
Iprovender that comes handy you viii
feel all right for an hour or two and
then the circus will begin. The firs'
sensation that you will feel will b
THAT of lump Of ice on the upper ent
of your spinal column, and as thil
slides slowly downward and lonf
before it has reached the term
mus you will feel as though You wal
sitting in your shirt sleeves astride o
Ian iceberg well up inside of the Arctic
circle and a raging blizzard sweeping
down on you right of the North pole
i You may roast yourself over red
4 hot fire or crawl under q pile of blank
cts as high as mountain, but it won'
warm you q bit. About the time yol
think that you are frozen as solid as ,
} block of ice there will como suddel
change and you will begin to rapid.
thaw out. Then You will soon thinl
that you have changed your iceberl
for the rim of a crater, with an activ
|, volcano right under you and redho
molten lava pouring all over you ant
} running through every vein IN youl
body.
As old Filley would say, "Do yo1
: want some of it?"
With all the doctors now on top o
dirt the sovereign remedy for feve
and ague Is quinine; but, judging it b
/ my own experience, I don't believ
& the vile drug is worth whoop in Hal
|, flax for ague or any other disease.
ltook oodles of it and 1t didn't eve
Ifaze the disease, for the ague sti
!. clung to me like grim death does to
, , defunct Senegambian. But kno'
lwhat the drug will do and that Is,
taken in large doses for week or tw
it will set your head to buzzing Q
Though q whole colony of bees wer
Q turned loose inside of it, and 1t wi
: also make your shin bones ache
though the marrow in them was froz
!. en-.
After wrestling with the chills for
|. IcoupIe Of months, came to the cor
= clusion that 1t was best for me to G
lout on the dry plain, about twent
= miles west of the river, with the val
Ihope, as it afterwards proved,
! shaking off the ague and thereby ge