Light-House Lice; or, Osceola, the Firebrand of the Everglades

Light-House Lige: or, Osceola, the Firebrand of the Everglades

By Capt. J. F. C. Adams (author of "Buck Buckram" and "Lightning Joe"), this serialized adventure story is set at a lighthouse on the Florida coast during the Seminole Wars. Young Hugh Havens, survivor of a shipwreck, arrives at the isolated lighthouse kept by the weathered Uncle Lige. From the tower, they observe Indian canoes gathering at Haunted Lake nearby—scouts report over a hundred warriors assembling under Chief Osceola for a war council. Lige reveals he expects a government war-steamer messenger tonight or tomorrow morning, which Osceola plans to ambush. Despite the imminent danger and the wooden lighthouse's vulnerability to fire, Lige resolves to remain at his post to keep the beacon burning. Havens, initially moved by what he interprets as the keeper's callousness, later understands Lige's real motivation: protecting young Havens by urging his departure. The narrative combines frontier action with character study and impending military conflict.