Horace Annesley Vachell

Excerpt from The Hill: A Romance of Friendship Life in front of me - home behind, I felt like a waif before the wind Tossed on an ocean of shock and change. Chorus. Yet the time may come, as the years go by, When your heart will thrill At the thought of the Hill. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt: ...ain't heart only," said Dan." Stomach?" suggested Pete." All overish, mostly.""You ain't bin readin' the advertisements o' quack doctors, hev ye?""Not since I was twenty. They did give me fits at one time. Boys"--he began to scratch himself furiously--"I've a feelin' as if I was afire inside.""Maw used ter give me sarsaparilla," said Jimmie." My folks," observed Pete, "never tuk nothin' but castor ile. Must ha' downed a barrel o' that when I was a kid.""This thing is drivin' me crazy," said Dan." Wal," replied Pete deliberately, "I know what I'd do, and I'd do it quick. This yere Professor is on the ranch, and he's a dandy. After the rodeo, you jest sachay up to him an' tell him what you've tole us. If he don't take the kinks outer yer, he's a fraud. See ""Gosh," exclaimed Dan, "I'll do it " They turned in. The Professor next day watched the rodeo from a platform erected near the biggest of our corrals. This was his first visit to California, and he was mightily impressed by the skill and vigour of the vaqueroes. To Ajax he declared that he was amazed to find such splendid specimens in that particular locality. Ajax smiled. "We have not much," he said, "but we feel that we have a right to expect high health. We used to say," he added, "that sickness was unknown in our hills till a wise doctor settled here from the East." The Professor frowned." I rose at six," he said austerely. "I made a microscopical examination of the water in your new spring, which rises, I venture to remind you, through soil which is undoubtedly diatomaceous.""That sounds awful.""Diatoms in a fossilised condition are silicious, and they are to be found in Virginia, in Bermuda, and here.""Professor, I am an ignoramus.""Then it is my duty to inform you that the man or woman who drinks water from that spring is swallowing millions of tiny flint knives, hard as diamond dust--indeed, diatomaceous earth is used commercially as a polishing powder.""You mean that if we drink that water...

Excerpt from Quinneys': A Comedy in Four Acts Posy enters R. She wears a white pinafore over a smart tailor - made coat and skirt. She is about nineteen, a pretty, graceful girl, very intelligent and quick-witted. In speech she is inclined to be slangy, but she speaks with an accent which indicates a first-class education. She carries in her hands a small bowl holding polish, and a soft duster. She places the bowl and duster upon the desk, and looks round. From the bosom of her blouse she takes a letter. Then she runs to the door, glances into the hall, shuts the door, and goes to the cabinet, opens the cabinet, slips letter into middle drawer, and then locks cabinet. She extracts the key from the lock, and with a smile pops it into the mirror-black bottle. Having accomplished all this to her entire satisfaction, she laughs softly. Once more she approaches the door and listens. Hearing nothing, she runs to the speaking-tube and whistles down it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In the early eighties, when my brother Ajax and I were raising cattle in the foothills of Southern California, our ranch-house was used as a stopping-place by the teamsters hauling freight across the Coast Range; and after the boom began, while the village of Paradise was evolving itself out of rough timber, we were obliged to furnish all comers with board and lodging. Hardly a day passed without some "prairie schooner" (the canvas-covered wagon of the squatter) creaking into our corral; and the quiet gulches and ca ons where Ajax and I had shot quail and deer began to re-echo to the shouts of the children of the rough folk from the mid-West and Missouri.