The Wreck of the South Pole and Other Strange Tales — page 220: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE BEACON SHIP OF HALF MOON BAY. Three years ago I was detained for several months along the Pacific coast near San Francisco. Business of the house I am connected with in New York sent me across the continent, and after visiting our correcpondent in San Francisco I found that I would be obliged to re- main some time in the State. I took advantage of this opportunity to make a run down the coast branch of the Central Pacific to San Mateo and visit an old friend. Down this road, between the bay and the sea, are a num- ber of stations near which the millionaires of San Fran- cisco reside. San Mateo is the first town of any im- portance, and it is made so only by the location there of a semi-military, semi-church school, St. Matthew’s Hall. But before going farther with my story I ought to go back and give a paragraph to my journey across the Rockies. After leaving Omaha, in spite of Pullman palace cars and attentive porters, our journey was a dreary one. A party across the aisle engaged in daily games of euchre; the party in front of me struck up a flirtation with the young man opposite. In like manner all seemed to find ECORNIE OOOKS (CO)