The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Girl of the Golden West, by David Belasco

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Girl of the Golden West

Author: David Belasco

Release Date: August 19, 2005 [eBook #16551]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST***

E-text prepared by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.

THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST

by

DAVID BELASCO

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 fetes; 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.

Still ringing in her ears was the pie