Polly is nine, plump, good-humoured and forever playing a part: beggar child, severe schoolmistress, Indian maiden, and now Queen of the Pirate Isle. With her small band, including Hickory and the Chinese boy Wan Lee, she leads an expedition near the Stanislaus River that ends in a dark mining tunnel where something very like an Evil Spirit is coughing and swearing.
A charming short tale of childhood make-believe from the chronicler of the gold rush; Wan Lee’s speech is rendered in period dialect. Download the free EPUB.