When we arrived at the railroad station we were met by Mr. Enderton,
who showed a moderate degree of pleasure at seeing us and an
immoderate amount of annoyance, exhibited principally to me, in being
obliged to give up to the women of our party the large room he had
occupied in the only lodging-house in the little settlement.
When I informed him that the strangers with us were the Dusantes, on
whose island we had been staying, he at first listened vaguely. He had
always looked upon the Dusante family as a sort of fable used by Mrs.
Lecks to countenance her exactions of money from the unfortunate
sojourners on the island. But when I told him what Mr. Dusante had
done, and related how he had brought the board-money with him, and had
offered to pay it back to us, an eager interest was aroused in him.
"I do not wonder," he exclaimed, "that the conscience-stricken man
wishes to give the money back, but that any one should refuse what
actually belongs to him or her is beyond my comprehension! One thing
is certain--I shall receive my portion. Fifteen dollars a week for my
daughter and myself that woman charged me, and I will have it back."
"My dear sir," I said, "your board was reduced to the same sum as that
paid by the rest of us,--four dollars a week each."
"I call to mind no reduction," said Mr. Enderton. "I remember
distinctly the exorbitant sum charged me for board on a desert island.
It made a deep impression upon me."
"I do not care to talk any further on this subject," I said. "You must
settle it with Mrs. Lecks."
Mr. Enderton gave a great sniff, and walked away with dignity. I could
not but laugh as I imagined his condition two minutes after he had
stated his opinions on this subject to Mrs. Lecks.
When Mr. Dusante had started from San Francisco on his search for us,
he had sent his heavy baggage ahead of him to Ogden City, where he
purposed to make his first stop. He supposed that we might possibly
here diverge from our homeward-bound route in order to visit the
Mormon metropolis; and, if we had done so, he did not wish to pass us.
It was therefore now agreed that we should all go to Ogden City, and
there await the arrival of our effects left in the snowed-up vehicles
on the mountain-side. We made arrangements with the station-master
that these should be forwarded to us as soon as the stage-coach and
the carriage could be brought down. All the baggage of my party was on
the coach, and it consisted only of a few valises bought in San
Francisco, and a package containing two life-preservers, which Mrs.
Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine said they would take home with them, if they
took nothing else.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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