title: A Bright Tragic Thing: A Tale of Civil War Texas
author:  L.D. Clark 
description: (Clark's) narrative flows strongly, creating profound suspense, culminating in the horror of endlessly reiterated death. Even for those who know the tragic end, the climax emerges raw, ugly and unforgettable. -- <i>Dallas Morning News, July 19, 1992</i><br /><br />Clark creates a tightly woven plot, but it's the careful portrayal of Todd's emotional maturation that makes A BRIGHT TRAGIC THING a joy to read.... Through it all,he lives with an intensity of consciousness he calls "the brightest splendor of existence." -- <i>Small Press, Fall 1992</i><br /><br />The key to the meaning of Clark's novel lies in the juxtaposition of "glory" with "the tragic," a juxtaposition that yields a profound existentialist vision. That vision transcends Christianity, particularly of the evangelical kind, and focuses on the power of the individual to create his own meaning through words, stories,reccollected history. -- <i>Journal of the Southwest,, Spring 1998</i><br /><br />This book is a masterpiece of reader involvement. You have absolutely no say in the matter; once you start reading, you are woven into the fabric of the novel and can only be ripped away with geat effort. -- <i>El Paso Herald-Post, June 25, 1992</i>
zlib_text: ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  
  ##### www.blackmask.com
  
  * * *
  
  JEFF'S TREASURE
  
  
  CHAPTER I. ITS DISCOVERY
  
  CHAPTER II. ITS INFLUENCE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  # JEFF'S TREASURE
  
  
  ### E. P. Roe
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
    * CHAPTER I. ITS DISCOVERY
  
  
  * CHAPTER II. ITS INFLUENCE
  
  
  
  
  
  ### CHAPTER I. ITS DISCOVERY
  
  
  Jeff, the hero of my tale, was as truly a part of the Southern
  
  
  Confederacy as the greater Jeff at Richmond. Indeed, were it not for
  
  
  the humbler Jeff and the class he represented, the other Jeff would
  
  
  never have attained his eminence.
  
  
  Jeff's prospects were as dark as himself. He owned nothing, not
  
  
  even himself, yet his dream of riches is the motive of my tale.
  
  
  Begarded as a chattel, for whom a bill of sale would have been made
  
  
  as readily as for a bullock, he proved himself a man and brother by a
  
  
  prompt exhibition of traits too common to human nature when chance and
  
  
  some heroism on his part gave into his hands the semblance