Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 13

# Beadle's Half-Dime Library: "The Dumb Spy" by Oll Coomes

This 1877 adventure serial follows thirteen claim-stakers—Kentuckians led by Captain John Rossgrove—surveying the Black-Hawk Reserve in Iowa territory in 1842, awaiting the expiration of the Indians' title. Two frontier hunters, "Noisy Nat" Taylor and "Wild Dick," guide them. Wild Dick recounts a dramatic tale of his deaf-and-dumb twin brother Seth, who communicated in sign language and helped foil a Native American attack on a fort by covertly warning him. Rossgrove confesses anxiety about a legendary creature called "Scarlet Death"—an invisible demon that kills victims by leaving a scarlet spot on the temple without breaking skin. When French government agent M. Jules Devreaux arrives demanding they vacate, he is suddenly struck down by this mysterious force, bearing the telltale scarlet mark. The terrified party abandons camp and searches for safer ground, confirming the demon's existence.