lace with
their lives.]

[Illustration: =GENERAL FUNSTON AND WIFE.=]

CHAPTER XII.

OUR BOYS IN BLUE PROVE HEROISM.

=United States Troops at the Presidio and Fort Mason
Under Command of General Funston Bring Order Out of
Chaos and Save City from Pestilence--San Francisco
Said "Thank God for the Boys in Blue"--Stricken City
Patrolled by Soldiers.=

"Thank god for the Boys in Blue!" was the ardent and praiseful
exclamation of the people of San Francisco during and after the
terrible days that rent by shock and consumed by fire their beautiful
city. And as their courage and devotion to save and protect, and their
tenderness towards the dying and the dead became known the entire
country re-echoed the tribute. For it was the soldiers of Uncle Sam,
untiring and unafraid amidst horrors and dangers seen and unseen, that
stood between half-crazed refugees from the quake and the fire and
downright starvation and anarchy.

When the catastrophe occurred Major General A. W. Greely, in command
of the military department of the Pacific, was on his way east to
attend the marriage of his daughter, and so the command of the troops
and of the department devolved on Brigadier General Frederick Funston;
and as on previous occasions when pluck and wise decision were
required he showed himself equal to the emergency. The first thing
that was done was to divide that portion of the city where order and
protection were most needed into six districts, four of them being
guarded by the military, one by the marine and one by the navy. Other
portions of the city were patrolled by the National Guard and by the
city's police force. Because of these arrangements there was
thereafter but little trouble, and practically no more looting.
During the fire General Funston established his headquarters at Fort
Mason on the cliffs of Black Point, and at once it became the busiest
and most picturesque spot in San Francisco. There was an awe-inspiring
dignity about the place, with its many guards, military ensemble and
the businesslike movements of officers and men. Few were allowed to
enter within its gates, and the missions of those who did find their
way within were disposed of with that accuracy and dispatch peculiar
to government headquarters. Scores of automobiles rushed in and out of
the gate, and each car contained an armed guardsman in the front seat
furiously blowing a sentry whistle to clear the roadway. At the