Beadle's Dime New York Library No. 24

# Prairie-Flower

This complete novel by Gustave Aimard follows three men camped on the Mississippi-Missouri confluence: Bright-eye, a fifty-year-old Canadian half-breed hunter; Count Edward de Beaulieu, a melancholic French nobleman who abandoned Europe after Charles X's fall; and Ivon Kergolee, the count's elderly family servant. The narrative establishes their bond through a rescue: Bright-eye was captured by the Piekann tribe under Chief Natah Otann, who offered him marriage to a tribal woman or death. After refusing, Bright-eye faced torture, but the Count de Beaulieu dramatically intervened, cutting his bonds and providing pistols while Ivon provided mounted support. The count's intervention reveals his transformation from despondent European to capable frontiersman. The three now travel together through unexplored wilderness, united by adventure and mutual respect despite their vastly different origins.