I lost no time in visiting the Red Cross Agency, and was given a pass over the Santa Fe Railroad to Manvel. There were thirty-odd men in the crew I shipped with, mostly foreigners. We rode all night, and about 12 o'clock next day we reached Manvel. By keeping my eyes and ears open along the trip I easily spotted the men who had shipped out of Los Angeles as a means of reaching Searchlight. At midnight when the rest of the camp was wrapped in deep slumber six men silently stole from the tents and struck out across the desert for Searchlight. The lights of the town could be plainly seen from the railroad camps, and it hardly seemed possible that those bright looking lights were twenty-three miles across the desert. Footsore, thirsty and tired we reached Searchlight next morning. Searchlight contains fifteen business houses, and eleven of them are saloons, though its a very quiet and well-governed little town, and about the only excitement is when some lucky prospector arrives with rich specimens of gold ore, discovered somewhere nearby in the surrounding desert--and this happens quite often. While I was there Mike Walsh, a very poor man, discovered a rich gold claim three miles north of Searchlight and sold it for $10,000. Any one can prospect if he's able to buy a grub stake. Eighty dollars will buy two burros and a three-months' grub stake for two men, and but little trouble is experienced in finding some veteran prospector who'll accompany you in search for gold on halves. There are several good paying gold mines within a half mile of the town. One gold mine there is in full operation within thirty feet of Main street. It is worked by only three young men, who are the owners, and it is supposed they are making a small fortune. I got a job with Cook & Co. assisting to survey town lots, for which I was paid $3.50 per day. Later on I got a job with Mr. Fred. Ullman, proprietor of the Searchlight Hotel. I was taken on as porter in the bar-room and hotel, but upon learning to mix drinks, I was engaged as bartender, which job I held until Mr. Ullman sold out a few weeks later to a firm in Los Angeles. This threw me out of a job, but out of my salary I had placed $50.00 in the Searchlight Bank. I now took a job at Doc's Kitchen washing dishes at two dollars and seventy-five cents per day. While engaged in this work my brother wrote me a long letter from home, saying they were all very anxious to see me and that mother had been taken seriously ill, worrying about me. For the first time since leaving home I began to feel homesick, so much so I had to give up my job. I decided to make a short visit to San Francisco and then start home.