Red Lightning

Red Lightning: The Black League by W. J. Hamilton, serialized in this 1878 Beadle and Adams pocket novel, is a frontier adventure set in 1760 Detroit.

Edward Gresham, a young ranger scout known as "the Trailer," and Ketadin, a Delaware warrior, meet by the Detroit River to report on French and Indian movements. They capture the Little Prophet, a three-foot-tall dwarf spy working for hostile forces, and send him fleeing. Ketadin reveals that tribes are gathering under Pontiac's influence, though the chief publicly maintains peace with the English garrison commanded by Major Gladwyn.

The narrative shifts to Detroit's French settlement, established by Le Motte Cadillac in 1701. The Trailer visits the cottage of Rose St. Aubin, a beautiful golden-haired French girl betrothed to him, known to Indians as "Bright Star." An unseen rival watches their tender greeting, vowing vengeance as he flees upriver by canoe. The story establishes an impending crisis: Indian uprising and romantic rivalry threaten the settlement's stability.