Beadle's Pocket Novels: Nat Wolfe

About this issue

This serial romance by Mrs. M. V. Victor, published by Beadle and Adams in 1874, follows the title character, a seasoned plains hunter and Indian fighter traveling through Pike's Peak country. Nat encounters a struggling emigrant train, befriending a young woman named Elizabeth, the niece of wagon driver Timothy Wright, and her impoverished family en route to the goldfields. The narrative traces their westward journey across arid prairie, depicting hardships including a wagon axle break and a terrifying stampede of thousands of buffalo threatening to destroy the caravan. Nat impresses the emigrants with his wilderness knowledge and courage, while developing an unspoken interest in the graceful, melancholic Elizabeth, who finds herself drawn to the rugged stranger. The story blends frontier adventure with romantic tension amid period details of overland travel.