while ago that
Silverado was a great place. The mine--a silver mine, of course--had
promised great things. There was quite a lively population, with
several hotels and boarding-houses; and Kelmar himself had opened a
branch store, and done extremely well--"Ain't it?" he said, appealing to
his wife. And she said, "Yes; extremely well." Now there was no one
living in the town but Rufe the hunter; and once more I heard Rufe's
praises by the yard, and this time sung in chorus.

I could not help perceiving at the time that there was something
underneath; that no unmixed desire to have us comfortably settled had
inspired the Kelmars with this flow of words. But I was impatient to be
gone, to be about my kingly project; and when we were offered seats in
Kelmar's waggon, I accepted on the spot. The plan of their next Sunday's
outing took them, by good fortune, over the border into Lake County.
They would carry us so far, drop us at the Toll House, present us to the
Hansons, and call for us again on Monday morning early.

II

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SILVERADO

We were to leave by six precisely; that was solemnly pledged on both
sides; and a messenger came to us the last thing at night, to remind us
of the hour. But it was eight before we got clear of Calistoga: Kelmar,
Mrs. Kelmar, a friend of theirs whom we named Abramina, her little
daughter, my wife, myself, and, stowed away behind us, a cluster of
ship's coffee-kettles. These last were highly ornamental in the sheen of
their bright tin, but I could invent no reason for their presence. Our
carriageful reckoned up, as near as we could get at it, some three
hundred years to the six of us. Four of the six, besides, were Hebrews.
But I never, in all my life, was conscious of so strong an atmosphere of
holiday. No word was spoken but of pleasure; and even when we drove in
silence, nods and smiles went round the party like refreshments.

The sun shone out of a cloudless sky. Close at the zenith rode the
belated moon, still clearly visible, and, along one margin, even bright.
The wind blew a gale from the north; the trees roared; the corn and the
deep grass in the valley fled in whitening surges; the dust towered into
the air along the road and dispersed like the smoke of battle. It was
clear in our teeth from the first, and for all the windings of the road
it managed to keep clear in our teeth until the end.

For so