Click "free sample" to read the whole book. No need to purchase. Francis Brett Hart (1836-1902), known as Bret Harte, was an American short story writer and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning over four decades he produced poetry, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials and magazine sketches in addition to his fiction. As he moved from California to the eastern US, and travelled in Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories, but his Gold Rush tales remain the most often reprinted, adapted and admired. This collection of seven stories includes Flip: A California Romance; Found at Blazing Star; In the Carquinez Woods; At the Mission of San Carmel; A Blue-Grass Penelope; Left Out on Lone Star Mountain; and A Ship of '49.