The Luck of Roaring Camp

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"The Luck of Roaring Camp" is a short story by American author Bret Harte. It was first published in the August 1868 issue of the Overland Monthly and helped push Harte to international prominence.

The story is about the birth of a baby boy in a 19th century gold prospecting camp. The boy's mother, Cherokee Sal, dies in childbirth, so the men of Roaring Camp must raise it themselves. Believing the child to be a good luck charm, the miners christen the boy Thomas Luck. Afterwards, they decide to refine their behavior and refrain from gambling and fighting. At the end of the story, however, Thomas Luck and a care taker (Stumpy) perish in a flash flood that strikes the camp.

The spaghetti western Four of the Apocalypse is based in part on Harte's story.

[edit] External links

• The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales at Project Gutenberg.
• Bret Harte at the Literary Encyclopedia
• Teacher's notes from Penguin Books