"I have promised Victoria to return. Just suppose the fire should come out here, what should you do?"
"Oh, take a mattress or two out to the Presidio. It's not far, and would be a regular picnic. But it won't."
"Well, I'll go, then. If you change your mind you can have the launch. Only come to me first. Mr. Clatt is standing over it with a six-shooter."
"Thanks. Sorry you won't come in. Lys won't sit down for about a week, he's that nervous, so you'll probably see him up on the Hill."
Isabel started for home, and when she reached Fillmore Street discovered that she was tired. It was then that she regretted not having reserved a dollar or two; but no doubt Victoria was at home by this time. She found a livery-stable, and asked the proprietor, lounging in the entrance, if he could send her to the foot of her bluff.
"Yes, for fifty dollars," he said, coolly. Fillmore Street was a prosperous slum, another brief level between two steep acclivities. It was not yet aware of the proud destiny that awaited it, that for the next year or more it was to be the teeming centre of the abbreviated city's life, but there never was a time when it was burdened with manners, or the grand point of view. When Isabel stared, the man continued: "Yes, ma'am! Fifty's the ticket. And two hours later it may be five hundred. Some people are getting mighty nervous, and I've let five hacks and buggies already, at my own figure, to them as wants to get out of town quick."
Isabel turned her back on him, and climbed and descended again. Lower Van Ness Avenue was even more torn and lumpy than where she had crossed it at California Street, and hundreds of the South of Market Street refugees were sitting or lying in the middle of the street, worn out but stolid. Just beyond, she caught up with a teamster, who, noticing the fatigue in her eyes, stopped his horses and offered her a "lift," provided she was "going his way."
Isabel gratefully climbed to his high perch, after stating that she had no money, and being royally silenced.
"Oh, shucks!" said the man. "I guess this is the time to do other folks a good turn. You'd do the same for me, I'll bet. What do you think of this business, anyhow?"
Isabel replied hopefully, but he shook his head.