houses, I see, are consigned to you. I will pay you $2,000 now on the
freight, and before they are all taken off of the ship, I will pay you
the balance. He said, take them all off, and pay the balance at your
convenience (we were acquainted and had come up on the same steamer, and
played whist together). It cost me $800 to get them ashore. There were
no wharves then. They had to be taken ashore on lighters. I expected my
brig down from Stockton soon, with $2,000 freight money, so I was out of
the woods financially for the present. I then made arrangement with the
colonel to have them landed on the North Beach on land owned by him,
where I could retail out my other six houses, which I had to sell, when
I got a proper price for them. We formed a copartnership. I was to take
one of my smallest houses, and have it erected there, to be used for an
office, and to use the grounds as a lumber yard to sell on commission,
and as a place for storage, which was very scarce then. There were quite
a number who had taken the liberty of piling lumber and other articles
on it, using it as public ground. I took formal possession of it in the
name of Colonel Stevenson, and gave notice to the different parties that
if they did not remove their materials from the premises in ten days
they would be charged so much for storage. Some removed, and others did
not. I recollect the German house that did not remove it in thirty days
after the ten days of notice. It was a wealthy house, and I handed them
a bill of $250 for storage, at which they demurred very seriously,
questioning our title; but they paid it. When I went out to the ship to
see about taking my houses off, I met the first mate, whom I got
acquainted with in New York. I told him I thought the ship had been
lost; that all the old tugs of ships had got in ahead of them. He said
to me, I have had the worst time I ever had in my life. I have had to
carry that old man on my shoulders (referring to the captain) all the
way. Whenever we had a good breeze and sails were all full, he would
come on deck and order shorten sail to check our speed, or we might have