Chapter I: Front Matter

Note: Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive. See
https://archive.org/details/lonepinestoryofl00towniala

LONE PINE

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New Fiction

SMITH BRUNT

United States Navy. By WALDRON K. POST, author of "Harvard Stories," etc. 12º, 459 pages, $1.50.

"A rattling good story of the Old Navy.... The book recalls Harry
Gringo by its breadth and interest of plot; which means it is a
first-class sea story. It is not an imitation, however.... The
prevailing thought of the book is the unity of aims, ideals and
race between Englishmen and Americans, and this idea is brought out
so well that, even though the reader enjoys the story of the fierce
sea-fights, he deplores the shedding of blood by brothers'
hands."--_Buffalo Courier._

BEARERS OF THE BURDEN

Being Stories of Land and Sea. By Major W. P. DRURY, Royal Marines. 12º, 286 pages, $1.00.

"Major Drury's stories combine pathos and humor with an underlying
earnestness that betrays a clear moral vision. The whole volume is
of a rare and wholesome quality."--_Chicago Tribune._

ROSALBA

The Story of Her Development. By OLIVE PRATT RAYNER (Grant Allen), author of "Flowers and Their Pedigrees," etc. Hudson Library, No. 39. 12º, 396 pages, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00.

"A story which holds the reader with profound interest to the
closing lines."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._

ABOARD "THE AMERICAN DUCHESS"

By HEADON HILL. Hudson Library, No. 41. 12º, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00.

NOTE.--This is a reprint of a work previously published under the
title of "Queen of the Night"--with certain changes of names.

"He has certainly given to the reading public a capital story full
of action. It is a bright novel and contains many admirable
chapters. Life on the ocean is well depicted, many exciting
episodes are well told, and it will interest readers of all
classes."--_Knoxville Sentinel._

THE PRIEST'S MARRIAGE

By NORA VYNNE, author of "The Blind Artist's Picture," etc. Hudson Library, No. 42. 12º, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON

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LONE PINE

The Story of a Lost Mine

by

R. B. TOWNSHEND

G. P. Putnam's Sons New York & London The Knickerbocker Press 1900

Copyright, 1899 by G. P. Putnam's Sons

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

TO MY FRIENDS IN SANTIAGO

RED AND WHITE

AND

IN MEMORY OF A BRINDLED BULLDOG

I have to thank Señor F. de Arteaga y Pereira, Reader of Spanish in the University of Oxford, for the Spanish version of Heine's poem which appears in Chapter XXIX.

A lone pine stands in the Northland
On a bald and barren height.
He sleeps, by the snows enfolded
In a mantle of wintry white.
He dreams of a lonely palm-tree,
Afar in the morning-land,
Consumed with unspoken longing
In a waste of burning sand.
_After Heine._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I.--INDIAN LOVERS 1

II.--A LONE HAND 12

III.--BLASTING THE ACEQUIA 22

IV.--A RACE WITH A MULE 38

V.--"OJOS AZULES NO MIRAN" 46

VI.--AN OLD WOUND REOPENED 59

VII.--DESDEMONA LISTENS 74

VIII.--CHILDREN OF THE SUN 90

IX.--A SQUAW FOR A FEE 105

X.--AN ELOPEMENT 119

XI.--MY DUCATS AND MY DAUGHTER 131

XII.--PACIFYING A GHOST 144

XIII.--A GIRL'S TEARS 163

XIV--A STERN CHASE 180

XV.--THE ROD DESCENDS 188

XVI.--THE FEE IS ACCEPTED 197

XVII.--MADAM WHAILAHAY 214

XVIII.--HUNTING A TRAIL 229

XIX.--RUN TO GROUND 244

XX.--THE WOLF'S LAIR 258

XXI.--DRIVING A BARGAIN 269

XXII.--A WOUNDED MAN 285

XXIII.--A PICNIC PARTY 297

XXIV.--WEIGHING THE SILVER 308

XXV.--A PREHISTORIC HEARTH 323

XXVI.--THE SNAKE'S VERDICT 340

XXVII.--AULD ACQUAINTANCE 353

XXVIII.--ELEVEN TO ONE 366

XXIX.--PEACE WITH HONOUR 384

LONE PINE