Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 7

# Catalog Note

"The Ocean Outcast" by Col. Prentiss Ingraham begins this naval adventure serial. The brig-of-war Vulture returns to Portsmouth, New Hampshire after two years at sea, carrying the body of Captain Duncan. Lieutenant Alden Ainslie reports to Commodore Cutting that Lieutenant Noel Moncrief killed Duncan in a duel in Havana; the quarrel arose when Duncan challenged Moncrief after verbal altercation. Midshipman Bernard served as Moncrief's second. Moncrief surrendered and now lies in irons aboard ship for court-martial. The narrative then shifts to Moncrief Manor, Governor Moncrief's stone estate above Portsmouth, home to his two sons—Noel, the elder (noble and athletic), and Clarence (scholarly and gentle). Years earlier, Noel entered naval service. Upon secretly returning home, he hears a woman's voice singing and discovers through a window a beautiful seventeen-year-old maiden with golden hair playing guitar—establishing romantic tension for the developing plot.