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After having covered nearly a mile, the animals suddenly swerved to the side of the road and plunged into a fence. Every moment I expected the carriage to topple over, but one of the horses stumbled and fell on the soft ground, and the other could not go on with the additional weight. We all sprang out as the carriage came to a standstill.

Of a far different type were the vehicles used in the countries of the Orient. When our steamer entered the harbor of Yokohama, we were surrounded by a host of watermen in small boats that might be termed aquatic hacks, and like the hack drivers the oarsmen shouted and gesticulated at the passengers as they approached the ship, calling out in high keyed voices, and not hesitating to knock one another overboard in their eagerness to secure patrons. The Captain's gig, a very small affair, had room only for himself and the mail, so that we had to risk our lives in the slender craft of these scantily clad boatmen. But they proved to be very skilful in handling their boats, and beyond getting a little wet from the spattering water we reached the shore without accident.

The jinrikishas of Japan, the sedan chairs of China, and the elephants of India were comfortable enough, although comparatively slow. Our rides on the elephants were without incident and the same may be said of the vehicles of Japan and China. At Fu-chau, China, however, we had an exciting experience while traveling in our diminutive coach behind our own ponies.

The startled natives could not understand the phenomena we presented, and imagined that we would bring them bad luck. They gathered round our carriage, chattering and gesticulating in great excitement. Some who had a smattering of English exclaimed, "Why come? No good! Bringee bad!" Our guide harangued them when they showed a disposition to attack the carriage and declared that God had sent us as good omens. His arguments seemed to be convincing, for when presently he waved his arms at them they ran off and dispersed, as Minnie said, like so many chickens in a barn-yard.

If my experience with the vehicles of two generations in all quarters of the globe was unusual, no less was my experience with inns. I must have gained a practical knowledge of every variety of public house in the world, from the most elaborate of modern urban hotels to the crudest lodging house of the frontier and the queer hotels of the Orient; unless it be that the Eskimos or the Hottentots have establishments for the accommodation of travelers. Some of my adventures in these hotels were humorous; others were quite the reverse. Such were the fire in the Newhall House in Milwaukee, and the attempted robbery at a hotel in New York.

One night the General, who was always exceedingly careless with money and jewels, made me very nervous by bringing into our room in this hotel a large quantity of money, as well as several cases of paste diamonds which he thought it expedient for me to wear instead of my real ones. I begged him to put them down stairs in the safe, but he insisted that everything was all right and went to bed. Putting the money between the mattresses, I too went to bed, but not to sleep.

About an hour later, as I lay shivering with a nameless terror, I was sure I saw the window move slightly. I elbowed the General and whispered my suspicions. "Oh, nonsense! Don't bother!" he muttered, and turned over to go to sleep again. But a little later, when I saw the window move again and heard footsteps in the hall, I insisted on his waking to share my observations if nothing more. At last the General was convinced that my fears were not wholly groundless, and he began to dress, when suddenly we heard a crash in the corridor, followed by the sounds of a struggle and a hurried tramp of feet.

Investigation proved that thieves had entered the house. The footsteps I had heard were those of the porter, whose suspicions had been aroused. Not finding any intruders on the first floor, he had begun to ascend the stairway to the next floor, when the robbers let fall a heavy table over the baluster in an effort to crush him. He escaped, however, and with the assistance that the crash had called forth succeeded in capturing them, when they confessed that they had come with the intention of robbing the General.

In great contrast with this hotel, which was equipped with every desirable convenience, was the one we were forced to patronize at Corinne, Utah. It was a large canvas building, with the sign "Uinta Hotel," painted in huge letters across the front. The rooms, if rooms they could be called, were all in a row. Two wooden partitions, six feet high and three feet apart, formed a hall extending the full length. At intervals of about six feet in the partition openings were cut, in which were suspended rude doors, partly concealing the interior. The rooms were divided off from one another by old army balnkets, remnants of unbleached sheeting, pieces of old calico, etc. The bedsteads consisted of two narrow strips of wood about four feet apart supported by props of hardly a foot above the ground. On each of these crude affairs was placed a very thin mattress covered with one brown sheet and a dirty army blanket. The toilet room was at the end of the passage way, and was supplied with two old tin pans placed upon a low shelf, one piece of the hard yellow soap, a bucket of water with a tin dipper, and one large jack towel for the common use of more than thirty guests.