Western Tales — Bret Harte

Bret Harte: Western Tales By Bret Harte Ten of the American author's tales of the Wild West are gathered in this collection, first published a century ago. Many deal with mid-19th century California and the romantic figures of the era including miners, gamblers, criminals, pretty girls and journalists. witnesses. 'How Rueben Allen "Saw Life" in San Francisco features a French madame while "Three Vagabonds from Trinidad", is about a runaway Chinese boy. "Jimmy' Big Brother from California", is a tale about mistaken identity and "The Youngest Miss Piper" involves a young woman choosing a husband. Excerpt: "As night crept up from the valley that stormy afternoon, Sawyer's Ledge was at first quite blotted out by wind and rain, but presently reappeared in little nebulous star-like points along the mountain side, as the straggling cabins of the settlement were one by one lit up by the miners returning from tunnel and claim. "These stars were of varying brilliancy that evening, two notably so-one that eventually resolved itself into a many-candled illumination of a cabin of evident festivity; the other into a glimmering taper in the window of a silent one. They might have represented the extreme mutations of fortune in the settlement that night: the celebration of a strike by Robert Falloner, a lucky miner; and the sick-bed of Dick Lasham, an unlucky one. The latter was, however, not quite alone. "He was ministered to by Daddy Folsom, a weak but emotional and aggressively hopeful neighbor, who was sitting beside the wooden bunk whereon the invalid lay. Yet there was something perfunctory in his attitude: his eyes were continually straying to the window, whence the illuminated Falloner festivities could be seen between the trees, and his ears were more intent on the songs and laughter that came faintly from the distance than on the feverish breathing and unintelligible moans of the sufferer."