Chapter 6
The Adventure

Even though I’d lain awake in bed long after everyone else was asleep the night after the picnic, I was the first one up the next morning.

Pa was still snoring in the other room, all the kids were quiet and still, and it was just beginning to get light. I got out of bed quietly, dressed, and went outside. I was too keyed up even to think about staying inside! Mrs. Parrish’s words of the previous afternoon had been ringing through my head all night.

The minute Pa came out of the cabin half an hour later, I ran toward him. I guess I didn’t exactly use a subtle approach to get him to agree to what I was about to ask. I’m afraid I didn’t even give him the chance to get to the outhouse!

“Pa, Pa, can I go to San Francisco with Mrs. Parrish?” I shouted, running up to him.

Poor Pa! I don’t think he even knew I was out of bed!

He glanced up, bewildered. “What’re you talking about, girl?” he said as he fiddled to straighten one of his suspenders.

“San Francisco, Pa! Mrs. Parrish asked me to go with her!”

“If that woman ain’t always—” Pa muttered to himself. But then he stopped and said to me, “I don’t know, Corrie. I ain’t heard nothing about it till just this minute, and—”

“She asked me yesterday at the picnic, Pa, and—”

“Tarnation, girl! Hold on to your britches! Just gimme a minute to take care of myself!” As he was talking he hurried off toward the outhouse at the edge of the woods.

When he came back a few minutes later, he looked considerably more relaxed and ready to listen to me.

“Now, what’s this all about, Corrie?”

“Mrs. Parrish has to go to San Francisco for some meeting or something, Pa. Some place where they show off new stuff for folks like her to buy to sell the miners.”

“Something like a fair or exhibition?”

“I don’t know, Pa. I reckon. But she asked me if I could go with her! Can I, please, Pa!”

I was trembling inside. I could hardly stand the thought of getting to see the great city and the Pacific Ocean! But Pa just stood there still for a minute thinking. He was such a kind man, and I loved him. But sometimes I couldn’t help being just a little afraid too. This was one of those times, and I was so afraid I’d start crying or something if he said no.

“Well . . .” he finally said, although his tone showed he was still in the thinking stage and hadn’t really made his mind up yet. “Well, I reckon I don’t see no reason why not, just so long as—”

“Oh, thank you, Pa!” I shouted, and gave him a big hug. “Thank you! I’ll be real good, Pa, and you won’t have to worry on account of me!”

And without realizing I hadn’t even given him the chance to finish his sentence, I turned and ran off up toward the mine. I wasn’t going anyplace in particular—I just had to run to get out all the excitement that was built up inside me.

Pa never did get a chance to tell me what he was going to say. I guess he figured he’d said enough to get the idea across that he wasn’t going to oppose the idea. And he always stuck by his word.

I could hardly wait for the next two weeks to pass! Every moment, every hour was a torture. I couldn’t think of anything but getting to go to San Francisco. For a girl who’d come all the way across the country, it might seem that the thought of visiting one more city wouldn’t be so exciting. But San Francisco was different. Sitting right there on the Pacific Ocean, it was growing just about faster than any city in the country because of the gold rush.

And to get to stay in a hotel with Mrs. Parrish! Why, I’d never dreamed of such a thing! The other four kids were full of envy, but I reminded them that I was the oldest and that maybe when they were my age I’d take them to the city for a visit. That seemed to satisfy them, and no one really begrudged me in my enthusiasm.

Pa couldn’t see what the fuss was about. He’d been to San Francisco, he said, and it wasn’t so all-fired special. I asked him if he’d stayed in a fancy hotel, and he just laughed and said, “Not exactly.” But he was glad I could go, and when we left gave me a kiss and a wink, and said, “Have fun, Corrie!” Then he said to Mrs. Parrish, “You keep her away from the docks!” with a serious voice, but as I looked at him I think he might have been joking.

Mrs. Parrish laughed real loud. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Mr. Hollister,” she said. “Corrie’ll be with me the whole time!”

“Maybe that’s what I’m worried about!” Pa answered back.

Mrs. Parrish laughed again, then flipped the reins, gave a “H’yaah!” to her two horses, and we were off!

Mrs. Parrish said Sacramento was about sixty miles—one day for a man on a horse, three or four days by mule or wagon train. She said we’d make it in two with the new surrey she’d just bought pulled by her two best horses. It was early in the day when we left, and we first returned to Miracle Springs to fetch Rev. Rutledge, who was riding with us as far as Grass Valley. Then we’d go on to Auburn where we’d spend the first night.

I sat in the back seat, but my hindquarters didn’t get sore like on the wagon coming out west last year; Mrs. Parrish’s new surrey had padded black leather seats. The minister and Mrs. Parrish talked most of the morning about wanting to get churches started in Grass Valley and some of the other communities around the gold-mining region. I suppose I should have been interested, but my mind was filled instead with the week ahead of us.

Mrs. Parrish was quiet for the hour or so after he left us, but by mid-afternoon she was back to her old self and we were laughing and talking about all sorts of things. I imagined we’d have some serious talks too. We always did when I was with Mrs. Parrish, and I liked that. But that first day of my big adventure was mostly just fun, and when we got to Auburn I hardly even felt tired.

The next day wasn’t quite so long, and we arrived in Sacramento before suppertime. We stayed at a boarding-house where Mrs. Parrish knew the landlady. I was hoping I’d get to see Miss Baxter, who had been so kind to us all a year ago, so after supper Mrs. Parrish took me to see her.

“Why, Corrie Hollister!” exclaimed Miss Baxter after I reminded her who I was. “I’d have never known you! You done a heap of filling out in the year since you was here!”

“Have you seen Captain Dixon?” I asked. “Has he been back again?”

“He’s due just next month—maybe even in two weeks. Land sakes, wouldn’t he enjoy seeing you!”

“Oh, I wish I could see him again!” I said. “There’s so much I’d like to tell him about how we’re getting on.”

“Well, you’ll just have to come back . . . and bring that parcel of sisters and brothers with you!”

“I’m afraid it might be a little farther out to Miracle Springs than you realize, Miss Baxter,” put in Mrs. Parrish. “Nevertheless, perhaps you could have word sent to me when Captain Dixon does arrive. It might be that I can schedule a freight pick-up for that time.” She wrote down something on a piece of paper and gave it to the landlady, and after a few minutes’ conversation we left and went back to our boardinghouse.

The next day was the most exciting day I’d ever had in my life!

Bright and early we took a horse-cab down to the river landing. There, waiting to take us down the Sacramento River was the most beautiful white steamer I could have imagined! Walking on board, I felt as if I were stepping into a fairy tale adventure! The deck was full of people waving and shouting and jostling about, but by the time the captain shouted “Cast off!” and his men below unhooked the big ropes, I was in a world of my own. Slowly we inched away from the dock, and gradually I could feel the swaying motion beneath my feet as the captain guided us out into the middle where the current began to take hold.

Beside me Mrs. Parrish was saying something about never getting over the thrill of being on the water and feeling the motion underneath her, but I hardly heard the words.