Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 128: Squatter Dick

This Beadle and Adams pocket novel by Joseph E. Badger Jr., titled "Squatter Dick; The Swamp Fox's Oath," is set in the Carolinas during the American Revolution. Dick Laflin, a poor white swamp dweller and skilled woodsman, is hired by Major Crosby to infiltrate the Keedy gang—forty bandits and Tories operating in the region—and discover their meeting place. Laflin agrees, planning to earn fifty golden guineas to support his mother and sister Sally. Returning to his shanty after his mission briefing, Laflin discovers it burned, his mother murdered and his sister mortally wounded by the four Keedy brothers (Matthew, Mark, Seth, and Luke), who raided the home while he was away. After burying his kin, Laflin makes a solemn vow before God to hunt and kill all four brothers, becoming the "Swamp Fox," and carves their initials in blood on a pine grave marker.