Beadle's Dime Library, No. 198

The Skeleton Schooner; or, The Skimmer of the Sea

By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, published by Beadle & Adams in 1882. A romantic melodrama set on Mississippi Sound and Southern plantations. Major Mark Mortimer, a mysterious planter, receives a decoy letter from Mrs. Nina Wyndham summoning him to the Magnolia Arbor. She is the Spanish-born wife of his former boyhood friend and dueling opponent, Percy Wyndham. Nina reveals that twenty-five years prior, Mortimer seduced Belle Linton away from the naval officer through falsehoods, leading to their duel (where Mortimer was nearly killed). After recovering, Mortimer traveled the Gulf where he rescued Nina's family from Lagoon pirates—an encounter establishing their prior connection. The narrative explores themes of honor, betrayal, and past romantic entanglement, with armed slaves present as witnesses to the confrontation. The text breaks off mid-revelation.