












DRIFT FROM TWO SHORES


by

BRET HARTE




CONTENTS

  THE MAN ON THE BEACH
  TWO SAINTS OF THE FOOT-HILLS
  "JINNY"
  ROGER CATRON'S FRIEND
  "WHO WAS MY QUIET FRIEND?"
  A GHOST OF THE SIERRAS
  THE HOODLUM BAND
  THE MAN WHOSE YOKE WAS NOT EASY
  MY FRIEND, THE TRAMP
  THE MAN FROM SOLANO
  THE OFFICE SEEKER
  A SLEEPING-CAR EXPERIENCE
  MORNING ON THE AVENUE
  WITH THE ENTREES




DRIFT FROM TWO SHORES



THE MAN ON THE BEACH

I

He lived beside a river that emptied into a great ocean.  The narrow
strip of land that lay between him and the estuary was covered at high
tide by a shining film of water, at low tide with the cast-up offerings
of sea and shore.  Logs yet green, and saplings washed away from inland
banks, battered fragments of wrecks and orange crates of bamboo, broken
into tiny rafts yet odorous with