Joseph A. Altsheler
10 Published Stories
Joseph A. Altsheler's Books and Stories
The Tree of Appomattox
Literature From the book:Although he was an officer in full uniform he was a youth in years, and he had the spirits of youth. Moreover, it was one of the finest apple trees he had ever seen and the apples hung everywhere, round, ripe and red, fairly asking to be taken and eaten. Dick Mason looked up at them longingly. They made him think of the orchards at home in his own state, and a touch of coolness in the air sharpened his appetite for them all the more. "If you want 'em so badly, Dick," said Warner, "why don't you climb the tree and get 'em? There's plenty for you and also for Pennington and me." "I see. You're as anxious for apples as I am, and you wish me to gather 'em for you by making a strong appeal to my own desires. It's your clever New England way." "We're forbidden to take anything from the people, but it won't hurt to keep a few apples from rotting on the ground. If you won't get 'em Pennington will." "I understand you, George. You're trying to play Frank against me, while you keep yourself safe. You'll go far. Never mind. I'll gather apples for us all." The Hunters of the Hills
Literature From the book:A canoe containing two boys and a man was moving slowly on one of the little lakes in the great northern wilderness of what is now the State of New York. The water, a brilliant blue under skies of the same intense sapphire tint, rippled away gently on either side of the prow, or rose in heaps of glittering bubbles, as the paddles were lifted for a new stroke. Vast masses of dense foliage in the tender green of early spring crowned the high banks of the lake on every side. The eye found no break anywhere. Only the pink or delicate red of a wild flower just bursting into bloom varied the solid expanse of emerald walls; and save for the canoe and a bird of prey, darting in a streak of silver for a fish, the surface of the water was lone and silent. The three who used the paddles were individual and unlike, none of them bearing any resemblance to the other two. The man sat in the stern. He was of middle years, built very powerfully and with muscles and sinews developed to an amazing degree. His face, in childhood quite fair, had been burned almost as brown as that of an Indian by long exposure. He was clothed wholly in tanned deerskin adorned with many little colored beads. A hatchet and knife were in the broad belt at his waist, and a long rifle lay at his feet. 
/0/17241/coverorgin.jpg?v=b28d9444af664f32dfc03614a1124092&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/17003/coverorgin.jpg?v=88cbcf987e5950945dad4f32c0f1ae71&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/16928/coverorgin.jpg?v=e76803c476582fa1dbad6757e3e6daaf&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/16371/coverorgin.jpg?v=929b681eda317fd0a7a88610c8f392b4&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/16203/coverorgin.jpg?v=4e5671815085e5835ce8f5fd60d2ec1c&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/16056/coverorgin.jpg?v=babba2b17d060f9255e07032ab3f52e3&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/16055/coverorgin.jpg?v=52ee15fb20e70e004b4a5f9e1a83ebed&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/15529/coverorgin.jpg?v=13bf33877dd35117424948fa43310375&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/5262/coverorgin.jpg?v=4607ac4ea8b029811de0aedbf6a116cf&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/4840/coverorgin.jpg?v=75c9c6979297fd2908db5ca15107b144&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/16582/coverorgin.jpg?v=a018a7f6c0e68931ffd185cbb3362b34&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/7978/coverorgin.jpg?v=01888a0a3ad00d1ec10a0abc84397e68&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/12984/coverorgin.jpg?v=b097d9824064dd897ba2303313d590d0&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/1877/coverorgin.jpg?v=e456a3544d0c18ebe471d17f12204d6a&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/9386/coverorgin.jpg?v=fe889e36bde25b9852039c94f7556905&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/11889/coverorgin.jpg?v=4c19535d9fdac37a0c8d1bd247b7f0fd&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/14392/coverorgin.jpg?v=7d2a71847e1e6c8c32ac95e221a281b3&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/16895/coverorgin.jpg?v=6c4823f121648576f5d718c3a4d895c6&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/13297/coverorgin.jpg?v=010167e450f36d9cb6a5452340993d6e&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/15800/coverorgin.jpg?v=13720de45d6eac0e4d39fe4fb06351e9&imageMogr2/format/webp)