Dusty Books, Frontier Librarian

R.T. Carr, Editor

PART ONE

Title Page... Excerpt from 'Exploring the West'... Dusty's Original title Page... Editor's Note...

Dusty introduces himself... Family and Personal History... "What I remember"... Starting in the business... Not a 'one horse town'...GOLD... Plans made, books bought... Passage booked for 'Around the Horn'... The Sea Voyage Begins...

Dangers Ignored... A great adventure For Dusty... A Gambling incident... The Trial... Lawyers of different styles... The Defense... The Prosecution... A statement from a surprise source... A broken Defense... 'Guilty as Hell!'... A Sentence by Committee... Restitution has its rewards... Sentence carried out... Rejected Mercy... Philosophical Discussion on Gambling and Religion... Food... Shakespeare...

The Doldrums... Rowing out... Rationing... Divine Intervention... 'Asuncion'... An 'Official Greeting'... A brief stop in port... Bars, Haircuts, Peach Brandy and feminine companionship... A few wild tales... the Aftermath...

Travelers Danger... A 'plague' town... Fog, rough seas and the 'Horn'... Ships cat has litter... the Atlantic lets us go... Pacific Waters... Stop in Chile for more water and Citrus... Gold fever gets to us all...

Whales... Monterrey... The Northern Bay... 'Sea Lions'... Natural Bridges... Sea Birds and perils... Ocean Beach... Golden Gate... The Docks... Booking Passage with Alvin Werte... Confusion at the Dock... Books found... Dangers of the Sacramento explained... 'Cajun' food... better than a Hotel...

The Voyage planned... Commodity Price Fluctuations... A Street of Stoves... A cartoon... A cask for Alvin... Good advice about Gold Fever, unheeded... Fireside Conversation and Corn Liquor... An Oath in VooDoo... A confidence shared... A revelation...

Alvin's twin brother Albert... Peas in a pod, but individual personalities... Long or Short Shoremen?... A practical joke... Navigational concerns... A shared cargo space... Molly the Dog... Buying Albert a cask... more commodity news... Ready for the river raft adventure.

Golden Gate to the left... 2 contrasting islands... 2 sets of twin islands... San Quentin... Derelict ships at anchor... The mouth of the Sacramento... Spring runoff and hazards in the water... Rumors of a Gold filled wreck... Dusty passes an endurance test... A watery hazard and the grave avoided... rescued by Molly the Dog...

Successful conclusion to the rafting trip... Meeting Molly's offspring... Albert's German Spouse... A Gold hunting trip begins...

(End of Part One)

PART TWO

A ten year gap in the story... catching us up... Virginia City... pesky mud... Facts about Dusty's new home town... Old Blue... Women and Miners... A frontier dance described... Plans to replenish my stock...

Across the prairie on horseback with a pack mule... Civil War rumblings... Buffalo for 4 hours... A prairie showdown with some desperate hombres... The tale versus the true story... A reward collected... profit out of adversity...

Pleasant time on the train... Porters... Attractions of New York... An amusement... Meeting a new acquaintance... Books from the same reliable source... Remembering a friend, fondly... Getting transport organized...

Thaddeus Johnson (No relation)... Teama and Tad... getting and fixing up a wagon... A true carpenter... Godawful 'music' from a saw... Oxen... Teama finds books on the trail... Teama's collection... The Rockies and an interval of bathing... Deer Hunting Teama style... Useful crafts from the deer.

People on the trail... Thaddeus' past vices and his story... A regrettable ending to the Johnson's personal story... Home and Tall Tales galore... stories added and stretched. Retelling the robbery attempt...

(End of Part Two)

PART THREE

1875... My adventure and the creation of a Dime novel... Time limits and an advance apology... What seems a tall tale is Gospel Truth... the Novel arrives... A special present... A friend passes away... his funeral... An unexpected windfall... Boyd Murphy Attorney at Law... A letter delivered proving to be the start of an outlandish situation...

Text of the letter... A man of property takes time to reflect... The Cabin... Clues found... Packing iron and taking good advice (for a change)...

A deal with Dittmer the Blacksmith... Rethinking his future conduct... Following all the clues to unexpected loot... $1000 bills!... An exhausted rest...

Dusty's inherited books and more $... A word puzzle... A box and unimaginable wealth... Decisions based on his new circumstance... Babe... A few bequests... 2 unwelcome and unexpected visitors...

Another great showdown... a brief ruse on their part... Dusty tied up and held at gunpoint... A prepared statement by one of the felons... Dusty's rebuttal extempore... Babe gets the message... Babe to the rescue... The Fire... shot and senseless... Babe saves Dusty's life... A decision to abscond... Off to a new life...

Editor's evaluation... Concluding remarks... Research noted... A possibility, a few notes on Judge Buchman and his son's life story and a cryptic pair of gravestones...

(End of Part Three)

(End of Volume)