Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive) [Illustration: “Mr. Johnson, come down”] The Girl of the Golden West _NOVELIZED FROM THE PLAY_ BY DAVID BELASCO WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. N. MARCHAND [Illustration] GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS :: NEW YORK Copyright, 1911, By Dodd, Mead & Co. _All rights reserved_ Published, October, 1911 “In those strange days, people coming from God knows where, joined forces in that far Western land, and, according to the rude custom of the camp, their very names were soon lost and unrecorded, and here they struggled, laughed, gambled, cursed, killed, loved and worked out their strange destinies in a manner incredible to us of to-day. Of one thing only are we sure--they lived!” _Early History of California._ I It was when coming back to the mines, after a trip to Monterey, that the Girl first met him. It happened, too, just at a time when her mind was ripe to receive a lasting impression. But of all this the boys of Cloudy Mountain Camp heard not a word, needless to say, until long afterwards. Lolling back on the rear seat of the stage, her eyes half closed,--the sole passenger now, and with the seat in front piled high with boxes and baskets containing _rebozos_, silken souvenirs, and other finery purchased in the shops of the old town,--the Girl was mentally reviewing and dreaming of the delights of her week’s visit there,--a visit that had been a revelation to one whose sole experience of the world had until now been derived from life in a rough mining camp. Before her half-closed eyes still shimmered a vista of strange, exotic scenes and people, the thronging crowds of carnivals and fêtes; the Mexican girls swaying through the movements of the fandango to the music of guitars and castanets; the great _rodeo_ with its hundreds of _vaqueros_, which was held at one of the ranchos just outside the town; and, lastly, and most vividly of all, the never-to-be-forgotten thrill of her first bull-fight.