Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 152

About this issue

This serial adventure novel, "Billy Bowlegs, the Seminole Chief, or, The Captives of the Kissimmee," by the author of "Silver Bugle" and "Quindaro," recounts frontier warfare in 1830s Florida. Stephen Loveday, an aging settler near Lake Kissimmee, reports to Colonel David Twiggs at Fort Chickakanicle that his daughter Jessie was abducted nearly a year ago by James MacDonald, a renegade called "Black Jim" working with Seminole warriors. Loveday reveals MacDonald and approximately fifty warriors are in the vicinity. Twiggs orders the arrest of MacDonald and three accompanying warriors discovered drinking at a trader's cabin. During interrogation, MacDonald insults the colonel; Twiggs nearly strikes him before restraining himself. When confronted about Jessie's whereabouts, MacDonald violently throws the elderly Loveday to the floor, causing him to bleed. The soldiers seize the renegade as the narrative continues.