Introduction / by Robert Van Gelder -- The luck of Roaring Camp -- Tennessee's partner -- Brown of Calaveras -- How Santa Claus came to Simpson's Bar -- The idyll of Red Gulch -- Mrs. Skagg's husbands -- High-water mark -- A protégée of Jack Hamlin's -- Wan Lee, the pagan -- The postmistress of Laurel Run -- An ingénue of the Sierras -- The bell-ringer of Angel's -- A passage in the life of Mr. John Oakhurst -- Miggles -- Colonel Starbottle for the plaintiff -- The outcasts of Poker Flat -- Dick Boyle's business card -- Left out on Lone Star Mountain -- Plain language from Truthful James.