"The Splendid Idle Forties: Stories of Old California" by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton is a collection of short stories about early California. The volume contains: The Pearls Of Loreto, The Ears Of Twenty Americans, The Wash-tub Mail, The Conquest Of Doña Jacoba, A Ramble With Eulogia, The Isle Of Skulls, The Head Of A Priest, La Pérdida, Lukari's Story, Natalie Ivanhoff: A Memory Of Fort Ross, The Vengeance Of Padre Arroyo, The Bells Of San Gabriel, and When The Devil Was Well.