The Washington herald., 1914-05-10

one day, firing Of me, or of what to him
| was my bad effect on Vesta, he told me
that the year before. wandering through
| the Contra Costa Hills to the Straits Of
Carquinez. across the Straits he had seen
smoke. This meant that there were
still other human beings, and that for
three weeks he had kept this inestimable
precious information from me. I de-
parted at once. my dogs and horses, and
journeyed across the Contra Costa Hills
to the Straits. I saw no smoke on the
other side. but at Port Costa discovered
a small steel barge on which I was able
to embark by animals. Old canvas which
l found served me for sail. and a south
erly breeze famed me across the Straits
and up to the ruins of Vallejo. Here. on
the outskirts of the city, i found evil
dences Of recently occupied camp. Many
clam shells showed me why these hui
mans had come to the shores of the bay.
This was the Santa Rosa tribe, and
followed its track along the old railroad
right of way across the salt marshes to
Sonoma Valley. Here, at the old brick
yard at Glen Ellen. / came upon the
camp. There were eighteen souls all told.
Two were old men, one Of whom was
Jones, a banker. The other was Harri-
son, a retired pawnbroker. who had
taken for a wife the matron Of the State
Hospital for the Insane at Napa- OF all
the persons of the city of Napa, and of
all the other towns and villages in that
rich and populous valley. she had been
the only survivor. Next. there were the
three young men-Cardif and Hale, who
had been farmers. and Wainwright.
common day laborer. All three had found
wives To Hale a crude, illiterate farmer.
had fallen Isadore, the greatest prize.
next to Vesta, Of the women who came
through the plague She was one Of the
worlds most noted singers, and the
plague had caught her at San Francisco.
She had talked with me for hours at
time, telling me of her adventures. until.
at last rescued by Hale in the Men0o-
cino Forest Reserve, there had remained
nothing for her to do but become his
wife. But Hale was a good fellow in
spite of his jlliteracy. He has keen
sense of Justice
THE wives of Cardiff and Wainwright
were ordinary women. accustomed to toll,
with strong constitutions-just the type
for the wild new life which they were
compelled to live. In addition were two
adult idiots from the feeble-minded home
at Eldredge, and five or six young chill
dren and infants born after the formation
Of the Santa Rosa Tribe. Also. there was
Bertha. She was a good woman. Hare
Lip. in spite of the sneers of your father.
L
er Of your father. Edwin, and of yours,
Hoo-Hoo. And It was our daughter.
Vera, who married your father. Hare-Lip
your father. Sandow, who was the ED
est son Of Vesta Van Warden and the
Chauffeur.
And SO it was that became the
nineteenth member of the Santa Rosa
Tribe. There were only two outsiders
added after me. One was Mungerson.
descended from the Magnates, who wan
dered alone in the wilds OF Northern Cal
ifornia for eight years before he came
south and Joined us. He it was who
waited twelve years more before he mar
ried my daughter, Mary. The other was
johnson. the man who founded the Utah
Tribe That was where he came from.
Utah, a country that lies very far from
here. across the great deserts, to the
east. 1t was not until twenty-seven years
after the plague that johnson reached
California. In all that Utah region he re-
ported but three survivors, himself one.
and all men. For many years these
three men lived and hunted together, I'M
til. at last. desperate. fearing that with
them the human race would perish ut
terly from the planet. they headed west
ward on the possibility of finding women
survivors in California Johnson alone
came through the great desert, where his
two companions died. He was forty-six
years old when he Joined us. and he mar
ried the fourth daughter of Isadore and
Hale. and his eldest son married your
aunt. Hare-Lip. who was the third
daughter of Vesta and the Chauffeur.
johnson was a strong man. with will
Of his own. And 1t was because OF this
that he seeded from the Santa Rosans
and formed the Utah Tribe at San Jose.
1t is a small tribe-there are only nine of
1t: but, though he is dead. such was his
influence and the strength of his breed.
that it will grow into a strong tribe and
play a leading part in the recivilization of
the planet.
There are only two other tribes that
We know of-the Los Angelitos and the
Carmelitos. The latter started from one
man and woman. He was called Lopez.
and he was descended from the ancient
Mexicans and was very black. He was
a cowherd in the ranges beyond Carmel.
and his wife was a maidservant in the
Great Del Monte Hotel. 1t was seven
years before we first got In touch with
tn Los Angelitos. They have a good
country down there, but it is too warm.
I estimated the present population of the
world at between $50 and 4o0-provided. of
course, that there are no scattered little
tribes elsewhere in the world. If there be
such. We have not heard Of them. Since
johnson crossed the desert from Utah. !
no word or sign has come from the East |
or anywhere else. The great world which |
I knew in my boyhood and early man.
hood is gone. 1t has ceased to be. I am |
the last man who was alive in the days |
Of the plague and who knows the wonders !
Of that far-off time. We, who mastered |
the planet-its earth. and sea. and sky
and who were as very gods. now live in !
primitive savagery along the water !
courses of this California country.
But We are increasing rapidly-your |
sister. Harc-Lip. already has four chill
dren. We are increasing rapidly and [
making ready for a new climb toward ,
In time. pressure of popula-
ton will compel us to spread out. and a
hundred generations from now We may
expect our descendants to start across the
oozing slowly along. generation
by generation. over the great continent
to the colonization OF the East-a new
Aryan drift around the world.
But it will be slow, very slow: we
have so far to climb. We fell SO hope
lessly far. If only one physicist or one
chemist had survived, But it was not
TO be. and We have forgotten everything.
The chauffeur started working in iron.
He was the forge which we use to this
day. But he was a lazy man, and when
he died he took with him all he knew If
metals and machinery. What was I to
know of such things? I was a classical
scholar. not chemist. The other men
who survived were not educated. Only
two things did the chauffeur accomplish
growing Of tobacco 1t was while he was
IL fIot r.. LII .l