The western Avernus; . clusion that I should be in a very badfix indeed when I got there, and that I should, ifpossible, leave it at once. As it is a great shippingport, in fact the port of the whole Pacific coast, mymind naturally turned on going to sea again if nothingelse turned up. So when I slung my blankets on myback and walked along the city front towards thebetter-lighted portions of the city, I determined to lookfor a sailors boarding-house, the proprietor of whichwould take me in if sailors were at all in demand. Icame in front of what I afterwards found out wascalled the Ferries, at
The western Avernus; . clusion that I should be in a very badfix indeed when I got there, and that I should, ifpossible, leave it at once. As it is a great shippingport, in fact the port of the whole Pacific coast, mymind naturally turned on going to sea again if nothingelse turned up. So when I slung my blankets on myback and walked along the city front towards thebetter-lighted portions of the city, I determined to lookfor a sailors boarding-house, the proprietor of whichwould take me in if sailors were at all in demand. Icame in front of what I afterwards found out wascalled the Ferries, at the foot of Market Street, andwent where there were a lot of saloons, eating-houses,boot-black stands, peanut vendors, and newspapersellers, and asked a man to direct me to a sailorsboarding-house. He pointed to the saloon before meand I went in, and, asking for the boss, told him I wasa sailorman, and that I wanted to find a house, actingin a jaunty, devil-may-care manner. Hev you got any money ? Nary cent. Then I256. In San Francisco cant do anything for you. Hell aint fuller of devilsthan San Francisco is of sailors, and most of them deadbroke. My house is full up now. Perhaps you mightstand a show at the Arizona Hotel on Clay. He cameoutside and showed me which way to go. In ClayStreet, a dirty, dark, narrow way, I found the otherhouse, and had no better luck there. I asked theproprietor to let me leave my blankets for a I went out and found another house, and wasagain refused, this time roughly, and without courtesysuch as the other two to whom I had applied hadextended to me. It must be remembered that I lookedrough enough to be a sailor a dozen times over, and Icould very well affect the old manner and walk whichnow were no longer natural to me. So I looked like asailorman who had been taking a spell in the , it was no good trying these houses, and aftertalking for a while with a sailor, who confirmed thestatements of the boarding-house keepers
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherwestm, bookyear1896
