about noon
At last , late in the evening of Christmas Day , amidst the most enthusiastic cheers of all the inhabitants of Cisco , who welcomed them with a splendid pine brand procession , Marston and his friends , thoroughly used up , feet swelled , limbs bruised , bones aching , stomachs seasick , eyes bleared , ears ringing , and brains on fire for want of rest , took their places in the State Car waiting for them , and started without a moment 's delay for Sacramento , about a hundred miles distant . How delicious was the change to our poor travellers ! Washed , refreshed , and lying at full length on luxurious sofas , their sensations , as the locomotive spun them down the ringing grooves of the steep Sierras , can be more easily imagined than described . They were all fast asleep when the train entered Sacramento , but the Mayor and the other city authorities who had waited up to receive them , had them carried carefully , so as not to disturb their slumbers , on board the _ Yo Semite _ , a fine steamer belonging to the California Navigation Company , which landed them safely at San Francisco about noon on the 26th , after accomplishing the extraordinary winter journey of 1500 miles over land in little more than nine days , only about 200 miles being done by steam . Half-past two P.M. found our travellers bathed , dressed , shaved , dined , and ready to receive company in the grand parlor of the _ Occidental Hotel _ . Captain Bloomsbury was the first to call . Marston hobbled eagerly towards him and asked : `` What have you done towards fishing them up , Captain ? ''