An Awkward Meeting and Other Thrilling Adventures

# Museum Catalog Note

Richard Henry Savage's "An Awkward Meeting" and Other Thrilling Adventures (1899) collects thirteen stories of adventure and survival. The title piece, set during California's catastrophic 1861-62 floods, depicts a sawmill community isolated in the Santa Cruz mountains by impassable waters and facing starvation. The narrative, framed as personal memoir, details young adventurers scouting mountain routes to secure flour from neighboring settlers. Additional stories promise varied adventure: "The Pool of Death," "The Pirate of Williams Landing," "The White Indian," "Snowed In," and tales set in tropical and Asian locales—"With the Caribs Off Ruatan Island," "Fighting the Tiger," "A Hunt in Corea"—alongside domestic mysteries like "The Secret of Dr. Harper's Cabinet" and military matters ("Court-Martialled Sergeant Maloney"). The collection emphasizes outdoor adventure, frontier survival, and exotic exploration.