Clarence King 



elucidation. Others, better than my- 

 self, could describe the charm of his 

 stories, of his recitals of adventure, 

 the poetic completeness of these re- 

 citals. Whenever he came back from 

 any trip, things had happened to him 

 which only the mind and eye of a con- 

 stant enjoyer of human nature could 

 have met with. If only he had written 

 them out ! They will probably have 

 perished ; and yet even the very 

 names of the tales, as we have chris- 

 tened them, contained the proposition 

 of picturesque and strange amuse- 

 ment. Who that has heard the story 

 of the Hen and the Gondolier but has 

 wished to see it written out to give 

 an example of the curious chances of 

 Western life ? 



Behind this there was a great mir- 

 age of a possible future of some mine, 

 the very record of which was in itself 

 romantic. When the resulting for- 

 tune should come, the artists were to 



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