The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales: With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier PapersHarte, Bret
General
The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales: With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers
Harte, Bret
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction; Western stories
With it passed away the spell that had fallen upon San Carlos. The rain
returned to invigorate the languid soil, harmony was restored between
priest and soldier, the green grass presently waved over the sere
hillsides, the children flocked again to the side of their martial
preceptor, a Te Deum was sung in the mission church, and pastoral
content once more smiled upon the gentle valleys of San Carlos. And
far southward crept the General Court with its master. Peleg Scudder,
trafficking in heads and peltries with the Indians, and offering glass
eyes, wooden legs, and other Boston notions to the chiefs.
THE LEGEND OF DEVIL’S POINT
On the northerly shore of San Francisco Bay, at a point where the Golden
Gate broadens into the Pacific, stands a bluff promontory. It affords
shelter from the prevailing winds to a semicircular bay on the east.
Around this bay the hillside is bleak and barren, but there are traces
of former habitation in a weather-beaten cabin and deserted corral. It
is said that these were originally built by an enterprising squatter,
who for some unaccountable reason abandoned them shortly after. The
“jumper” who succeeded him disappeared one day quite as mysteriously.
The third tenant, who seemed to be a man of sanguine, hopeful
temperament, divided the property into building lots, staked off the
hillside, and projected the map of a new metropolis. Failing, however,
to convince the citizens of San Francisco that they had mistaken the
site of their city, he presently fell into dissipation and despondency.
He was frequently observed haunting the narrow strip of beach at low
tide or perched upon the cliff at high water. In the latter position a
sheep-tender one day found him, cold and pulseless, with a map of his
property in his hand, and his face turned toward the distant sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account