The Rival Hunters

This 1875 Beadle and Adams publication comprises a dime novel The Rival Hunters; Or, The Forest Garrison by Edward S. Ellis, preceded by advertisements for instructional sports and games handbooks (baseball, croquet, cricket, pedestrianism, yachting, riding, swimming). The serial narrative opens in January 1763 in the wilderness near Lake Erie during a severe snowstorm. Basil Veghte, a hardened thirty-year frontier scout, makes camp at an oak tree where he kindles a fire and rests. A mysterious stranger emerges from the darkness identifying himself as Zechariah Smithson, initially refusing to reveal his name. Veghte, suspicious but wary, gradually grants him hospitality while studying the stranger's face intently, certain he recognizes him from past encounters, though unable to place him precisely.