Beadle's Pocket Library, No. 112

# The Helpless Hand: A Tale of Backwoods Retribution

By Captain Mayne Reid, this serialized narrative is set in 1860s Arkansas backwoods near Helena. Six young hunters of mixed social standings—including planter's son Alf Brandon, the judge's son Randall, and poor farmer's boy Bill Buck—camp after successfully hunting a bear. While entertaining themselves with contests of strength, two travelers arrive on the forest trace: an eighteen-year-old youth of mixed Indian-White descent named Pierre, and sixteen-year-old Lenk Rook, a frontier girl. Brandon and his companions, emboldened by whiskey, harbor resentment toward Pierre and challenge him to a hanging competition from a tree branch, wagering rifles. The girl departs as the boys prepare the contest, tying Pierre's left hand while he attempts to hang by one arm—an apparent setup for mischief that tests both strength and character.