the audience. They succeeded in getting the bull out, and dragging out
the dead horse, and letting in a less ferocious one. The same
performance was gone through with him, as already described, except that
this one was conquered. At last, when the bull pitched at the man, he
holds his sword in such a way that the weight of the animal comes on it,
and passes between his foreshoulders and penetrates his heart. In an
instant the back wilts and the animal lies dead. It was the most sudden
change, from full vitality to death; it startled you. It's a shock to
your nervous system. My friend and myself said it was the first and last
bull-fight we would ever see.

The price of lumber and vegetables kept up. I paid forty cents a pound
for potatoes in buying provisions for the hands on my brig. I furnished
them enough to last them on the up trip, but not for the return, so they
would hurry back. It was now time for the vessel with the houses to
arrive, and I expected to buy a ship with the money, and to go to the
Sandwich Islands and make, what I considered, a fortune for me, but
alas! no _Prince de Joinville_ came. It was hope deferred. Finally the
rainy season set in in full blast, and all consumption of lumber
stopped. The high price had stimulated shipments from everywhere. There
was a big reaction in the price. The first prominent failure in the city
took place, I think it was Ward & Co., commission merchants and private
bankers. It was said it was owing to his large orders of shipments of
lumber to that market. He shot himself with a pistol in the morning in
his bedroom and died, knowing that he could not meet his creditors if he
went to his place of business. About this time it was announced from
Telegraph Hill that my vessel, with the houses, was entering the port
two or three months after she was due, striking a glutted market. I had
four or five thousand dollars to raise to pay the freight on them to get
possession of them, or I would lose the capital invested. So instead of