The Project Gutenberg EBook of Openings in the Old Trail, by Bret Harte

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Title: Openings in the Old Trail

Author: Bret Harte

Release Date: May 18, 2006 [EBook #2535]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPENINGS IN THE OLD TRAIL ***

Produced by Donald Lainson

OPENINGS IN THE OLD TRAIL

by Bret Harte

CONTENTS

OPENINGS IN THE OLD TRAIL

I. A MERCURY OF THE FOOT-HILLS
II. COLONEL STARBOTTLE FOR THE PLAINTIFF
III. THE LANDLORD OF THE BIG FLUME HOTEL
IV. A BUCKEYE HOLLOW INHERITANCE
V. THE REINCARNATION OF SMITH
VI. LANTY FOSTER'S MISTAKE
VII. AN ALI BABA OF THE SIERRAS
VIII. MISS PEGGY'S PROTEGES
IX. THE GODDESS OF EXCELSIOR

OPENINGS IN THE OLD TRAIL

by Bret Harte

A MERCURY OF THE FOOT-HILLS

It was high hot noon on the Casket Ridge. Its very scant shade was
restricted to a few dwarf Scotch firs, and was so perpendicularly cast
that Leonidas Boone, seeking shelter from the heat, was obliged to draw
himself up under one of them, as if it were an umbrella. Occasionally,
with a boy's perversity, he permitted one bared foot to protrude beyond
the sharply marked shadow until the burning sun forced him to draw it in
again with a thrill of satisfaction. There was no earthly reason why
he had not sought the larger shadows of the pine-trees which reared
themselves against the Ridge on the slope below him, except that he was
a boy, and perhaps even more superstitious and opinionated than most
boys. Having got under this tree with infinite care, he had made up his
mind that he would not move from it until its line of shade reached and
touched a certain stone on the trail near him! WHY he did this he did
not know, but he clung to his sublime purpose with the courage and
tenacity of a youthful Casabianca. He was cramped, tickled by dust and
fir sprays; he was supremely uncomfortable--but he stayed! A woodpecker
was monotonously tapping in an adjacent pine, with measured intervals of
silence, which he always firmly believed was a certain telegraphy of
the bird's own making; a green-and-gold