“And how long have you been at work?”
“A year. I was a bookkeeper in New York on a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. I used to spend all my income—the more fool I—till the last six months, when I laid by enough to bring me out here.”
“Then you have really bettered yourself?”
“I should say so. I could only save up five hundred dollars a year at the best in New York. Here I have crowded ten years into one.”
“In spite of your large outlay for clothes?”
“I see you will have your joke. Now, what brings you out here? Are you going to the mines?”
“Presently, but not to dig. I came to survey the country.”
“Let me do what I can for you.”
“I will. First, what hotel shall I go to?”
“There is the Leidesdorff House, on California Street. I’ll lead you there.”