Hearking back to the discussion of whether Twain made certain quotations, I am curious as to other folks' reaction to a couple of phrases Twain did use--but only one time. In Roughing It, Twain says he and John Kinney found the "Cache" of the Brigade Boys at their Lake Tahoe timber claim camp. He puts it in quotation marks. In a word check of over 300 Twain works, including his letters and his first book of dictation, he never used the word in print again. In a letter from Aurora, Esmeralda mining district, to Orion, he says "But I have struck my tent in Esmeralda. . . . I am a citizen here [Esmeralda} now, and I am satisfied. . . ." Then, in the same manner as "cache," he never again uses the phrase. A word check of "struck" reveals many uses, but the phrase "struck my tent" or "struck his tent" never occurs after the 1862 letter.. Neither phrase shows up again, although he does use "struck out" as in "shouldered our pans and shovels and struck out over the hills to try new localities." Contrary to the more common use of "struck my tent," I think he means he is no longer "a temporary camper" and has taken up being a resident. I find no use of the phrase that way (as compared to "breaking camp and departing", the more common meaning) in 1800s newspapers. So, I am guessing Sam had heard the phrases "struck my tent" and "cache" for the first time, and was trying it on for size, and found they didn't fit his personal lexicon. On the other hand, in the But I would like to hear from others, especially if you have a different thought. Many thanks. Bob Stewart