Shadow Jack; or, the Moor Wife

This issue of Beadle and Company's dime novel series contains Shadow Jack; Or, The Spotted Cruiser, by Roger Starbuck. The story opens aboard the American brig Leopard in 1814, when its captain, the half-breed John Black, raises Moorish colors and attempts to convert his crew to piracy against American merchant vessels. The American crew members—led by second mate Harry Marston and third mate Jack Thompson (called "Shadow Jack" for his lean frame)—mutiny against this betrayal. After heated conflict in the ship's hold involving gunfire and the threat to fire the vessel, Marston's party regains control and restores the American flag. Black and his foreign conspirators remain trapped below deck. The narrative escalates with mysterious sawing sounds from the hold and Shadow Jack infiltrating the darkness to investigate the enemy's intentions.