Beadle's Dime Novels, No. 11

About this issue

"The Prisoner of La Vintresse; or, The Fortunes of a Cuban Heiress" by Mary A. Denison follows a young Cuban woman, Minerva, who attempts to escape Havana by ship with her cousin Herman Goreham. While Goreham returns to shore to retrieve forgotten documents, Minerva falls asleep in her cabin. She awakens to discover the ship under sail—a tropical hurricane has swept them from port hours earlier. Herman never reboarded. Minerva suffers severe seasickness as she learns from the stewardess and captain that Goreham failed to return from shore before departure. The narrative establishes an immediate romantic mystery: Minerva alone at sea, separated from her protector, facing an uncertain future. A companion story, "Bill Biddon, Trapper; or, Life in the North-West" by Edward S. Ellis, concerns frontier trappers rescuing a captive white woman from Blackfeet-Sioux Indians, featuring romance and adventure in Wyoming territory.