tenders you a dime by way of change; and thus you have paid what is

called a LONG BIT, and lost two and a half cents, or even, by

comparison with a short bit, five cents. In country places all

over the Pacific coast, nothing lower than a bit is ever asked or

taken, which vastly increases the cost of life; as even for a glass

of beer you must pay fivepence or sevenpence-halfpenny, as the case

may be. You would say that this system of mutual robbery was as

broad as it was long; but I have discovered a plan to make it

broader, with which I here endow the public. It is brief and

simple - radiantly simple. There is one place where five cents are

recognised, and that is the post-office. A quarter is only worth

two bits, a short and a long. Whenever you have a quarter, go to

the post-office and buy five cents worth of postage-stamps; you

will receive in change two dimes, that is, two short bits. The

purchasing power of your money is undiminished. You can go and

have your two glasses of beer all the same; and you have made

yourself a present of five cents worth of postage-stamps into the

bargain. Benjamin Franklin would have patted me on the head for

this discovery.

From Toano we travelled all day through deserts of alkali and sand,

horrible to man, and bare sage-brush country that seemed little

kindlier, and came by supper-time to Elko. As we were standing,

after our manner, outside the station, I saw two men whip suddenly

from underneath the cars, and take to their heels across country.

They were tramps, it appeared, who had been riding on the beams

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