I waited around the station till three o'clock that afternoon. We arrived in Palo Alto on time, four o'clock. When the train had come to a standstill, I hastily left the car and proceeded by direction to the Post Office. Palo Alto is but a small University town of some three thousand inhabitants, and as a consequence, I had little trouble in locating the said office.
As I entered the door my heart sank within me, for Anderson was not there. This disappointment quite upset me and I hardly knew just what to do. I walked over to the General Delivery window and inquired for my mail. Not a line!
I then hurried to the telegraph office and asked if a message had been received there about four hours previous from San Francisco addressed to one William Anderson, and whether or not the message had been called for by the person to whom it had been addressed. The operator replied in the negative, so then I inquired whether or not there was a message there for Jack Rand. No, was the reply again. I truly had never felt so badly in my life, for after looking forward to this meeting for so long a time, I had to be disappointed. I really did not know what to do, for I had ridden all the way across the continent to meet my old friend, and he had apparently gone back on me. I thought at least he would have kept his pledge and written me of his delay, but, alas! not even that.
Anderson and I had planned to take a course in law at Leland Stanford University which is located half a mile from Palo Alto, but after this bitter disappointment, I did not care to stay, and especially after I learned from the registrar of the University that I could only take up two courses in law at that particular time of the semester.
I remained in Palo Alto some days, thinking perhaps that by some miracle he might turn up later. But no such good fortune.
Later I returned to 'Frisco where I spent a month in trying to obtain suitable employment. I did not have an over supply of cash capital, and consequently, after a few fastidious parties, I found my cash on hand sheet getting very short.
One morning I sat down on the side of my bed to count my little over, and found that I was the possessor of five one dollar bills and a five dollar note. Gee! but this looked pretty bad for me, and I began to wonder what I was going to do when the money ran out. After finishing my breakfast that morning I glanced over the "Help Wanted" columns and my eye stopped on "Sailors wanted. Ships sailing for Australia, India, China and the Orient. Apply Humboldt House." I felt that I would not experience any trouble in securing a place on any one of the steamers as I had with me an able-bodied seaman's certificate, which I had earned plying up and down the South African coast.
In the afternoon I strolled down to the Humboldt House, situated in the heart of the sailor quarter, and on making application to the booking clerk of the office, I was not long in signing up for a voyage to Sidney, Australia, and back by way of Hong Kong, China. The thought of a trip through the East pleased me highly, so I walked down to where the "Britisher" was docked and went aboard. I spent half an hour on her and when leaving told the "bowswain" that I would be back the next morning with my outfit.
The "Britisher" sailed the following afternoon, but it sailed without one Jack Rand, for I actually would not have made the trip on that old shell had they made me captain of her. Every hand on the boat was a Chinaman with the exception of the Captain, First Officer, Engineer and the "Bowswain." Those ugly looking Chinamen with their long pigtails hanging down their bony backs, and keen edged knives stuck securely in their belts did not look any too good to me.
The night I remember as well as if it was only yesterday. I left my hotel shortly after supper and headed toward Golden Gate Avenue. It was a damp night and I wanted to mingle with the people, hear the music of the dance halls, and maybe trip the fantastic myself, for I was homesick and lonely. My little pocket account was still decreasing, and I really did not feel the toughness of the position I was playing till that evening when I found my earthly belongings in the coin line amounted to four dollars and fifty-five cents.