wall pediments
adrift in the wilds
one beautiful misummer night in 18 a large heavily laden steamer was making her way swiftly up the pacific coast in the direction of san francisco . she was opposite the california shore only a days sail distant from the city of the golden gate and many of the passengers had already begun making preparations for landing even though a whole night and the better part of a day was to intervene ere they could expect to set their feet upon solid land . she was one of those magnificent steamers that ply regularly between panama and california . she had rather more than her full cargo of freight and passengers ; but among the hundreds of the latter we have to do with but three . on this moonlight night there were gathered by themselves these three personages consisting of tim orooney elwood brandon and howard lawrence . the first was a burly good natured irishman and the two latter were cousins their ages differing by less than a month and both being in their sixteenth year .