Jack London

The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii Jack London

Originally published in 1912, this collection contains six stories: "The House of Pride," "Koolau the Leper," "Good-bye, Jack," "Aloha Oe," "Chun Ah Chun," and "The Sheriff of Kona." A departure from London's normal tales of the frozen North, all of these tales take place in the islands of Hawaii.

"Never are there such departures as from the dock at Honolulu. The great transport lay with steam up, ready to pull out. A thousand persons were on her decks; five thousand stood on the wharf. Up and down the long gangway passed native princes and princesses, sugar kings and the high officials of the Territory. Beyond, in long lines, kept in order by the native police, were the carriages and motor-cars of the Honolulu aristocracy. On the wharf the Royal Hawaiian Band played "Aloha Oe," and when it finished, a stringed orchestra of native musicians on board the transport took up the same sobbing strains, the native woman singer's voice rising birdlike above the instruments and the hubbub of departure." -- From "Aloha Oe."