The Treasure of Pearls: A Romance of Adventures in California
By Aimard, Gustave
Classic work by Aimard, Gustave.
Table of Contents
THE PIECES AND THE BOARD. We stand on Mexican soil. We are on the seaward skirt of its westernmost State of Sonora, in the wild lands almost washed by the Californian Gulf, which ...
ENVY NO MAN HIS GRAVE. Don Benito Vázquez de Bustamente was the son of that General Bustamente, twice president of the Mexican Republic. When his father, cast down from power, was...
THE PIRATE'S BEQUEST. The wanderer whose careless progress through the brake sufficiently clearly revealed that he was a stranger of a bold heart and contempt for customs differen...
A DESERT MYSTERY. Upon this enjoinder of so eminently practical a nature, and thoroughly aware of the necessity of haste, the fallen Mexican rapidly drew with his ramrod end, upon...
THE GODSEND. The inhabitants of the wilderness, red or white, black or yellow, obliged often to "let go of all," as our sailor friend would word it, and "get" (as he would probabl...
ANY PORT IN A STORM. Gladsden was groping along when he perceived the thorn thicket changing into a prairie, only slightly interspersed with scrub. At the same time, though underf...
A WAKING NIGHTMARE. "Aye, strangers, and no jokers! But to my tale. Captain, in the first place your Indian hireling has done his work well. He slew the don--the youngster, I opin...
THE "LITTLE JOKER." There rode a charming little sailing vessel in Guaymas Port. It flew the Chilian flag, was about a hundred and twenty tons register, and was named _La Burlonil...
THE WAY LAYERS. "What do I say to that offer?" returned Gladsden; "That it is a queer one, not to say a mad one! Señor, I am morally certain that you would lose your ship." "You ...
THE PEARL DIVER'S PRICE. However placid our adventurous Englishman might seem to be, he was a man, like another, to be dazzled by the play of his fancy, rendering almost palpable ...
THE TWO CAPTAINS OF THE "GOLETA." Whilst señora Bustamente was formally taking some refreshment, Gladsden summoned Ignacio. "Lieutenant," said he, sternly, "it is a honour for me...
THE ROUT COMPLETE. At this declaration of the modern "_Ego civis Romanus_," captain Matasiete rather stepped behind the woman than otherwise, as a wary warrior chooses a cotton ba...
INTERVENTION. The _Burlonilla_ proved herself commendably swift. Had she been even a faster sailer, captain Gladsden would have never dreamt of going out to sea with a view of elu...
THE HAUL OF MILLIONS. Soon a cutter was lowered, in which the Mexican got, with the radiant Ignacio as his coxswain, and four oarsmen, while the moment it started in pursuit, or a...
THE PATHFINDER'S HONOUR. Here might the author stop, and, in sooth, he was going to write the words "The End," glad that the episode of the pearl fisher had, at least, the happy _...
A HAVEN WORSE THAN THE STORM. What a difference between this rough country, where the earth was full of pits as a prairie dogs' village, and that old European soil teeming with ho...
THE PUREST OF PEARLS. By the noise of the cavalcade it could be calculated to be numerous. Uncle Sweet Potato, who had so completely kept to himself whilst the scuffle had lasted...
OUT AND AWAY. At this same instant a bang on the oak from a large pistol butt--so high up that it revealed it was held in the hand of a giant or a man on horseback, who had his re...
THE OLD, OLD FRIENDS. Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening the two guardsmen of La Perla Purísima were still riding with her in a somewhat melancholy mood. They had even...
THE ANGELITO. The hall into which the strangers were ushered by the host offered a most strange and striking aspect. It was magnificently furnished, and gorgeously illuminated by...
THE LANCERS' CHARGE. The forlorn hope started off at full gallop behind the trio, in a flight through the obscurity which was as lugubrious as fantastic. The sweet and sadly wan m...
THE PACT OF BLOOD. Behind the fugitives, the rattle of dropping shots had gone on for an hour so that Oregon Oliver's prophecy of the possible duration of such skirmishing bid fai...
CANNON IS BROUGHT TO BEAR. Long and patiently had the environed garrison been awaiting the token of well faring with the adventurers who had so daringly left that shelter. Only i...
THE UNWILLING VOLUNTEER. It had fallen a very black night, we say. Not a star peeped out among the heavy clouds grazing the treetops and rim of the bowl in the centre of which Mon...
THE LOYALTY OF THE APACHE. "This is the gate," said the Mayo Indian, touching the palisades. "See, it moves at a pressure. Now, who comes?" The captain shuddered, he knew not why...
THE HARVEST OF THE KNIFE. With similar fortitude, the American and his associate had resisted the rain in the best shelter the rocks afforded. At least, the relentless downpour ha...
THE TRUE CABALLERO. Four days after the defeat of the insurgents, in his own bedroom of the Hacienda of the Monte Tesoro, don Benito Vázquez de Bustamente lay extended on the couc...
THE BEST BAIT TO CATCH APACHES. The farewell to the American was still "warm," when don Jorge, spite of his grief, begged Mr. Gladsden to await his return, as he felt bound to "go...