transferred one-half-dollar of the balance to his jacket pocket, and with the most amiable and knowing air imaginable, held the other fifty cent piece out in his open hand for me to take, as he passed me in the doorway. He meant to do business on the square, and come to a fair divide. From what I had said, he took me for the financial man of the party, and supposed, of course, that I was—pardon the Californianism—"on the make" as well as himself. My natural and unconquerable modesty, coupled with the fact that I wore a uniform which I felt bound to honor while in a foreign land, induced me to refuse the money, and whisper to him to keep it as a present. He kept it!
The servants furnished to Mr. Seward's party by the Mexican Government during our stay in Mexico, certainly would compare favorably with any I have ever seen, being attentive and efficient, and at least, as honest as they will average anywhere. From one side of the continent to the other, our clothing and other articles of baggage were at their mercy, and we lost nothing whatever. In fact, we found it impossible to lose some things which we would gladly have left behind us.
At one point on our journey, some inconsiderate friend presented Mr. Seward with a huge petrifaction from some stone quarry. This proved a perfect fossil elephant, and after the shins of the entire party had suffered fearfully, it was left behind us—by accident of course—at Puebla. The next day we were congratulating ourselves on the loss, when Pedro, one of the servants who had accompanied us across the continent, came smiling up to the coach door, with the monstrosity carefully done up in a rag—he had carried it this way the entire distance, and was proudly conscious of
