move." "The fourth what!" said I. "The fourth littery man that has
been here in twenty-four hours--I'm going to move." "You don't tell
me!" said I; "who were the others!" "Mr. Longfellow, Mr. Emerson
and Mr. Oliver Wendell Holmes--consound the lot!"

You can easily believe I was interested. I supplicated--three hot
whiskeys did the rest--and finally the melancholy miner began. Said
he--

"They came here just at dark yesterday evening, and I let them in
of course. Said they were going to the Yosemite. They were a rough
lot, but that's nothing; everybody looks rough that travels afoot.
Mr. Emerson was a seedy little bit of a chap, red-headed. Mr.
Holmes as fat as a balloon; he weighed as much as three hundred,
and double chins all the way down to his stomach. Mr. Longfellow
built like a prize-fighter. His head was cropped and bristly, like
as if he had a wig made of hair-brushes. His nose lay straight down
his face, like a finger with the end joint tilted up. They had been
drinking, I could see that. And what queer talk they used! Mr.
Holmes inspected this cabin, then he took me by the buttonhole, and
says he--

"'Through the deep cares of thought
I hear a voice that sings,
Build thee more stately mansions,
O my soul!'

"Says I, 'I can't afford it, Mr. Holmes, and moreover I don't want
to.' Blamed if I liked it pretty well, either, coming from a
stranger, that way. However, I started to get out my bacon and
beans, when Mr. Emerson came and looked on awhile, and then he
takes me aside by the buttonhole and says--

"'Give me agates for my meat;
Give me cantharids to eat;
From air and ocean bring me foods,
From all zones and altitudes.'

"Says I, 'Mr. Emerson, if you'll excuse me, this ain't no hotel.'
You see it sort of riled me--I warn't used to the ways of littery
swells. But I went on a-sweating over my work, and next comes Mr.
Longfellow and buttonholes me, and interrupts me. Says he,

"'Honor be to Mudjekeewis!
You shall hear how Pau-Puk-Keewis--'

"But I broke in, and says I, 'Beg your pardon, Mr. Longfellow, if
you'll be so kind as to hold your yawp for about five minutes and
let me get this grub ready, you'll do me proud.' Well, sir, after
they'd filled up I set out the jug. Mr. Holme