A Story of Ten Mile Gulch from 'Romance of California Life'

MP3 Audio CD. A Story of Ten Mile Gulch from 'Romance of California Life' (in LibriVox 10th Anniversary Collection )

I.

The horse which Mr. Tom Ruger rode kept the path, steep and rugged
though it was, without any guidance from him, and its mate followed
demurely. They were accustomed to it; and many a mile had they traversed
in this way, taking turns at carrying their owner and master. Indeed,
the trio seemed inseparable, and "as happy as Tom Ruger and his horses"
was a phrase that was very often heard in every mining camp and
settlement.

As for Mr. Tom Ruger himself, very little was known of him save what had
been learned during the two years that he had sojourned among them.
Where he came from never was known, nor asked but once by the same
person. All that could be said of him might be summed up in the
following statement:

"The finest-looking, the best-dressed, and the best-mannered man on the
Pacific coast, and the best horseman."

These were the words of "mine host" at the Ten Mile House, and, as he
was a gentleman whose word was as good as his paper, we will accept them
as truth.

As Mr. Ruger rode down the mountain-side that beautiful Autumn day,
dressed in the finest of broadcloth, with linen of the most immaculate
whiteness, smoking what appeared to be a very good cigar, and humming to
himself a fragment of some old song, he looked strangely out of place.