Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/198



ble in  their  tents  as  were  their  brethren  in  the  ex- pensive city hotels.

Here, waiting  and  watching,  some  of  them  for weeks and  months,  for  an  opportunity  to  get  away, they continued  the  process  of  moral  declination  and decivilization. Fledglings fresh  from  their  mothers, little mammon-dried  men,  and  tall  hairy  fellows, armed to  the  teeth  and  streaming  with  perspira- tion, strolled about  the  streets,  watching  the  fruit- venders, and  water-carriers,  ogling  the  bare-breasted girls, pricing  hats,  looking  wistfully  at  the  tempting catalogue of  iced  drinks  through  the  open  doors  of the  saloons;  or,  entering  the  churches,  they  would stalk about  the  isles,  peer  into  the  musty  confessional boxes and  thrust  tlieir  impious  fingers  through  the lattice, push  their  way  into  secret  corners,  invade  the precincts of  the  altar  and  profanely  handle  the  orna- ments, and sneer,  in  their  superior  conceptions  of God-worship,  at  all  this  clap-trap  of  the  devil,  as  they called it.

Some few  of  the  aspiring  sort  studied  Spanish,  or essayed  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  crumbling relics ; some  played  billiards,  or  gambled,  or  got drunk ; some  fished,  gathered  shells,  braved  the sharks and  bathed,  hunted  monkeys  and  parroquets, or sat  under  old  vine-clad  walls  gazing  at  the  hum- ming birds as  they  buzzed  about  the  flowers. Some died of  fever;  others  killed  themselves  by  drinking villainous liquors,  eating  excessively  of  fruit,  or  by overdosing  with  pills,  patent  medicines,  cholera  pre- ventives, and like  supposed  antidotes  to  supposed impending disease. Once seized  with  sickness  and without a  faithful  comrade,  a  man's  chance  for  recov- ery was small ;  for  already  a  coating  of  callous  indif- ference to the  sufferings  of  others  seemed  to  be enclosing  the  hearts  of  many  of  these  adventurers, and a  pale  fever-stricken  stranger  was  too  often shunned like  a  leper.

The morning  after  our  arrival,  and  for  days  there-