The Crested Serpent

# Catalog Note: The Crested Serpent

This dime novel by John Emerald, published by Beadle and Adams in 1874, is set during Maximilian's reign in Mexico and centers on political intrigue and betrayal. Jose Vallejo, a patriotic Mexican landowner opposing the empire, receives a magnificent gilded horse from Arnaud Boussard, a French colonel known as "the White Tiger of the Tropics." Lured to Boussard's mountain encampment by this gift, Vallejo unknowingly walks into a trap orchestrated partly by Boussard's wife Murieta, an Arab woman seeking revenge for a social slight by Vallejo's daughter Paula. As Humfredo, a loyal servant sent to follow Vallejo, observes from hiding, preparations are made for Vallejo's execution by hanging. The narrative alternates between the hacienda Santa Luzia and the imperial camp, building toward the victim's demise through calculated seduction and deception.