Lillian Morris, and Other Stories

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[Illustration: LILLIAN MORRIS AND OTHER STORIES]

+--------------------------------------+ | | | THE WRITINGS OF | | HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ. | | | | YANKO THE MUSICIAN, and Other | | Stories. | | | | LILLIAN MORRIS, and Other Stories. | | | | WITHOUT DOGMA, a Novel of Modern | | Poland. | | | | | | Historical Romances. | | | | WITH FIRE AND SWORD. | | | | THE DELUGE. | | | | PAN MICHAEL. | | | +--------------------------------------+

LILLIAN MORRIS AND OTHER STORIES

by

HENRYK·SIENKIEWICZ

Avthor···of···“With Fire·and·Sword”··etc

Translated··by Jeremiah·Cvrtin

With Illvstrations·by·Edmvnd·H·Garrett

[Illustration: LOGO]

Boston Little·Brown·and·Company M·D·CCC·XCIV

Copyright, 1894, By Little, Brown, and Company.

University Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.

[Illustration: Contents·]

PAGE

LILLIAN MORRIS 1

SACHEM 155

YAMYOL 177

THE BULL-FIGHT 199

[Illustration: LILLIAN MORRIS OF BOSTON]

LILLIAN MORRIS.

DURING my stay in California I went with my worthy and gallant friend, Captain R., to visit Y., a compatriot of ours who was living in the secluded mountains of Santa Lucia. Not finding him at home, we passed five days in a lonely ravine, in company with an old Indian servant, who during his master’s absence took care of the Angora goats and the bees.

Conforming to the ways of the country, I spent the hot summer days mainly in sleep, but when night came I sat down near a fire of dry “chamisal,” and listened to stories from the captain, concerning his wonderful adventures, and events which could happen only in the wilds of America.

Those hours passed for me very bewitchingly. The nights were real Californian: calm, warm, starry; the fire burned cheerily, and in its gleam I saw the gigantic, but shapely and noble form of the old pioneer warrior. Raising his eyes to the stars, he sought to recall past events, cherished names, and dear faces, the very remembrance of which brought a mild sadness to his features. Of these narratives I give one just as I heard it, thinking that the reader will listen to it with as much interest as I did.

[Illustration: CHAPTER I]

I CAME to America in September, 1849, said the captain, and found myself in New Orleans, which was half French at that time. From New Orleans I went up the Mississippi to a great sugar plantation, where I found work and good wages. But since I was young in those days, and full of daring, sitting in one spot and writing annoyed me; so I left that place soon and began life in the forest. My comrades and I passed some time among the lakes of Louisiana, in the midst of crocodiles, snakes, and mosquitoes. We supported ourselves with hunting and fishing, and from time to time floated down great numbers of logs to New Orleans, where purchasers paid for them not badly in money.

Our expeditions reached distant places. We went as far as “Bloody Arkansas,” which, sparsely inhabited even at this day, was well-nigh a pure wilderness then. Such a life, full of labors and dangers, bloody encounters with pirates on the Mississippi, and with Indians, who at that time were numerous in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee, increased my health and strength, which by nature were uncommon, and gave me also such knowledge of the plains, that I could read in that great book not worse than any red warrior.