Let us be tigers in our fierce deportment.”
The train they took out the day previous consisted of about twenty ice cars. The trip was uneventful until they reached Blue Cañon, where they satisfied the yearnings of the inner man, Bowne scaring the female who waited on the table half to death by asking her for a cup of hot blood. At this place five prisoners were placed in their charge by the sergeant of the guard located there, with instructions to carry them safely through to Colfax. It is needless to remark that the duty, having been committed to members of the City Guard, was duly performed. Without deviating from the strict rule of military discipline, they were considerate, and accommodated their prisoners with berths in a refrigerator car, bringing them into Colfax literally on ice. They were subsequently passed through to Sacramento.
The guard at Blue Cañon were very anxious to have these individuals, whom they regarded with great suspicion, well out of their district, which included miles of snowsheds. The great danger feared was incendiary fires; so all characters who could not give a satisfactory account of themselves were promptly transported to other regions.
While the train stopped at Alta station, strains of music, mingled with happy laughter, were wafted to their ears from a school-house near by, where a dance was in progress. They longed to trip the light fantastic too for a few blissful moments with the comely country lasses. But “some must work, while others play”; so from afar, with envious eyes, they viewed the merry throng, seeking doubtful consolation in the thought that it was just possible that distance lent enchantment to the scene. They arrived at Colfax about 10:30 P. M., and at 1 P. M. the following day boarded the train that bore them back to Truckee.
The marvelous way in which such articles as soap, towels, and washing laid out to dry disappeared was astonishing. George Claussenius late one night was heard bemoaning to his bunkmate Adams the loss of a pair of socks, expressing it as his opinion, that it was a shame that a man could not put out a pair of socks to dry without some one taking them. (It will no doubt be noticed that we always used the word take during that three weeks campaign; the harsh word steal was dropped from our vocabulary altogether.) Hayes, hearing the sad little tale of woe, whispered in the ear of Corporal Burtis the question, “Did he have those socks”? a chuckle, and “I don’t know,” was the answer received.
As trophies of the war, Rupp bore away with him from Sacramento a nice pair of russet shoes which had found their way into his tent, and Corporal Burtis, a navy blue flannel shirt. Shortly after his arrival at Truckee the handsome little corporal bought a dark blue cotton handkerchief with white polka dots for ten cents, and thus added ten dollars’ worth of improvement to his appearance, by the coquettish manner in which he arranged it about his neck.
Our gallant major also seemed to give more attention to his personal appearance than usual, blossoming forth in a very becoming light blue and white striped negligee shirt, with a very deep collar which he wore turned over on the collar of his blouse, producing a charming effect, and giving him a most debonair and youthful appearance. So much so in fact, that one of the wags of the company dubbed him “Little Lord Fauntleroy Burdick.”
The example, set by our handsome Major, stirred up a spirit of emulation among the rest of our officers, all of whom have more than the average share of good looks. Captain Dr. O’Brien, the scientist and bonesetter of the expedition, is tall, and of athletic build, and a handsome man under all conditions, and so is Adjutant Hosmer, photographer-in-chief; but when these two valiant warriors returned from town, after a seance with the village barber, with a few cents worth of handkerchief arranged with studied negligence about their shapely throats, they were a vision of loveliness. What lent their personality an additional charm was their utterly utter seeming unconsciousness of their good looks; they appeared to be totally oblivious of the unfeigned admiration of us poor privates, who felt like tramps in the splendor of their presence.
Our handsome captain, who disdains the petty details of the toilet, was most of the time wrapt in meditation, or lost in the contemplation of his astral form. Not so our first lieutenant (easy), Lundquist; he slicked up perceptibly; the hair of his head, from constant brushing, rose in all the glory of the bristling pompadour from off his classic forehead, like the feathers of an Indian chief. While the graceful form of our second Lieutenant, with sloping waist and curving hips, seemed to take on added charms daily. Time or space will not permit any further digression or dilation on the personal attributes of the officers connected with the Truckee contingent. Suffice it is to say that the proximity of the young and beautiful femininity, for which this town is noted, caused these gallant men to spend much time before the small looking-glass that hung in the toilet compartment of the car.
Sunday afternoon, July 22d, another party, under the leadership of Lieutenant Lundquist, received permission to go and see the rocking stone. The party was composed of Sergeants Ramm and Clifford, privates George Claussenius, R. Radke, Frech, Baumgartner, Murphy, Gilkyson, Flanagan, McKaig, and Beseman. On arriving at the tower they found it closed, and, being unable to find the proprietor, concluded to take a tramp over the hills. The frog farm before mentioned first attracted their attention, and soon the curious city boys were deep in the study of the domestic life of frogdom. But just as the debate concerning the habits of frogs had reached its most interesting phase, the stone was thrown that caused an unfortunate remark by Al Ramm, that linked hops and beer together, causing the immediate desertion of King Flanagan, McKaig, and Gilkyson to some symposium where hops already brewed could be obtained. The rest, in line of skirmishers, continued the tramp, with eyes wide open and ears laid back, constantly on the alert for any thing that would be of interest, the fresh, bracing air making Lundquist, Ramm, and Clifford feel real young again. Suddenly they were startled by a yell from Dick Radke, and, on rushing to the rescue, found him in a great state of excitement: he had discovered a gold mine, and wanted every one to know it. George Claussenius, the mining expert of the party, after a cursory examination, declared it to be a worked-out claim, much to the disappointment of Dick, who thought he had struck a bonanza.