The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers   By: Bret Harte (1836-1902)

THE WRITINGS OF BRET HARTE

THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP AND OTHER TALES

WITH CONDENSED NOVELS, SPANISH AND AMERICAN LEGENDS, AND EARLIER PAPERS

By BRET HARTE

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

In 1882, it was felt to be desirable that Mr. Harte's scattered work should be brought together in convenient form, and the result was a compact edition of five volumes. After that date, as before, he continued to produce poems, tales, sketches, and romances in steady succession, and in 1897 his publishers undertook a uniform and orderly presentation of the results of more than thirty years of his literary activity. The fourteen volumes that embodied those results were enriched by Introductions and a Glossary prepared by Mr. Harte himself.

The present Riverside Edition is based on the collection made in 1897, but is enlarged by the inclusion of later work.

Boston, 4 Park Street, Autumn, 1902.

CONTENTS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP AND OTHER SKETCHES. The Luck Of Roaring Camp The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Miggles Tennessee's Partner The Idyl Of Red Gulch Brown Of Calaveras

CONDENSED NOVELS. Muck A Muck: A Modern Indian Novel Selina Sedilia The Ninety Nine Guardsmen Miss Mix Mr. Midshipman Breezy: A Naval Officer Guy Heavystone; Or, "Entire:" A Muscular Novel John Jenkins; Or, The Smoker Reformed Fantine. After The French Of Victor Hugo "La Femme." After The French Of M. Michelet The Dweller Of The Threshold N. N.: Being A Novel In The French Paragraphic Style No Title Handsome Is As Handsome Does Lothaw; Or, The Adventures Of A Young Gentleman In Search Of A Religion The Haunted Man: A Christmas Story Terence Denville Mary Mcgillup The Hoodlum Band; Or, The Boy Chief, The Infant Politician, And The Pirate Prodigy

EARLIER SKETCHES. M'liss: An Idyl Of Red Mountain. I. Smith's Pocket II. Which Contains A Dream Of The Just Aristides III. Under The Greenwood Tree IV. Which Has A Good Moral Tendency V. "Open Sesame" VI. The Trials Of Mrs. Morpher VII. The People vs. John Doe Waters VIII. The Author To The Reader Explanatory IX. Cleaning Up X. The Red Rock High Water Mark A Lonely Ride The Man Of No Account Notes By Flood And Field Waiting For The Ship: A Fort Point Idyl A Night At Wingdam

SPANISH AND AMERICAN LEGENDS. The Legend Of Monte Del Diablo The Right Eye Of The Commander The Legend Of Devil's Point The Adventure Of Padre Vicentio: A Legend Of San Francisco The Devil And The Broker: A Medieval Legend The Ogress Of Silver Land; Or, The Diverting History Of Prince Badfellah And Prince Bulleboye The Christmas Gift That Came To Rupert: A Story For Little Soldiers

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The opportunity here offered [Footnote: By the appearance in England several years ago of an edition of the author's writings as then collected.] to give some account of the genesis of these Californian sketches, and the conditions under which they were conceived, is peculiarly tempting to an author who has been obliged to retain a decent professional reticence under a cloud of ingenious surmise, theory, and misinterpretation. He very gladly seizes this opportunity to establish the chronology of the sketches, and incidentally to show that what are considered the "happy accidents" of literature are very apt to be the results of quite logical and often prosaic processes.