Set in a Gold Country classroom in 1920, One-Eyed Charley tells the amazing but true story of an authentic California hero, stagecoach driver Charley Parkhurst. The tale is told in the words of kindly Mr. Perkins, who shares his memories of Charley with nine-year-old Margaret Kincaid and the other children of Manchester School. Mr. Perkins regales the children with vivid accounts of Gold Rush-era Sacramento, bandits and holdups, perilous stage rides, wild races, and, best of all, the astonishing secret of the famed California Whip. Along the way, Margaret and her friends learn that women and girls can be just as brave and resourceful as the hardiest of men.

84 pages, illustrated
Hardcover $13.95
Softcover $9.95

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. . . Walking over to Miss McCabe's desk, Mr. Perkins picked up the three-dollar gold piece.

"As I've told you, this here is one of the coins Charley left me. The first person who can guess what Charley's secret was will win it as a prize." . . .

Frowning in concentration, Margaret tried to think of some clue they were all forgetting. Suddenly she felt a poke in her back. "Psst," Peter whispered. "Have you got it, Smarty?" Without turning around, she gave a little shake of her head.

"Did you have a guess, Peter?" Miss McCabe asked.

"Um, no, ma'am," Peter mumbled.

"Anyone else? No? Then it seems we all give up," Miss McCabe said to Mr. Perkins.

"Well, don't feel too bad," said Mr. Perkins. "The fact is, Charley's secret was so amazin' that you could have knocked over his friends and neighbors with a feather when they heard the news. It came from the doctor or undertaker, I'm not sure which, who was checkin' Charley's body and preparin' it for burial. It was then that Charley's secret was discovered at last." Pausing, the banker took a deep breath.

"Strange as it seems, old One-Eyed Charley, the famed Knight of the Road-and maybe the best and bravest whip California had ever seen-was . . ."

Margaret nearly jumped out of her seat. "A woman!" she blurted out . . .