Tom took the card. It contained the name
Henry Stoddard.
Underneath, Mr. Stoddard wrote the name of a banker in San Francisco.
“I cannot tell where my pursuit of health may take me,” said Mr. Stoddard, “but a letter directed to the care of my banker will be sure to reach me.”
It was the second offer of service that Tom had received in the same day. He felt that he would not be wholly friendless in the strange land which he was about to visit.
CHAPTER XXII
FIRST PROSPECTS.
FROM the deck of the steamer, as it entered the harbor of San Francisco, Tom looked with eager interest at the city which was to be the scene of his future activity. But a few years had elapsed since the discovery of gold in California, and San Francisco was small compared with what it has since become. But, built as it was upon a hill-side, overlooking the bay, it was more conspicuous than many larger towns would have been, and, as may readily be imagined, was a welcome sight to voyagers who had been over twenty days at sea.
Mike Lawton had got over his seasickness at length, and was among the passengers on deck.