Up the Forked River; Or, Adventures in South America

E-text prepared by D Alexander and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
Author of “Teddy and Towser,” etc., etc.
ILLUSTRATED
PHILADELPHIA:
HENRY T. COATES & CO.
Copyrighted, 1904, BY HENRY T. COATES & CO.
“I AM BETRAYED—SINK THE TUG.”

Two friends were seated in the private office of Rowland & Starland, Montgomery Street, San Francisco, not long ago, discussing a subject in which both were much interested.
Each gentleman was past three-score, but they were well preserved, of rugged health, well to do and prosperous. They had got on for many years without so much as a shadow of difference between them. They had made the tour of Europe together, had engaged in many an outing and now as the evening of life was drawing on, they took matters with that complacency and comfort which was creditable to their good sense and which was warranted by their circumstances.

Mr. Thomas Starland, the junior partner, removed his cigar, leaned back in his chair, and, looking kindly into the face of his friend, said: