Beadle's Pocket Library No. 232

About this issue

This 1888 dime novel installment presents the opening chapters of "Merle Monte's Treasure; or, Buccaneer Brandt's Threat" by Col. Prentiss Ingraham. The narrative follows a well-dressed stranger in New Orleans who rescues a woman and child from a runaway team, revealing himself as Brandt, a notorious buccaneer in disguise. A veiled woman identifies him through his distinctive diamond-studded gold cimeter pin and reveals herself as Celine Edwin, his estranged wife, whom he had attempted to poison years earlier after murdering her father and robbing their home. Brandt now holds leverage over Celine: he has discovered their daughter Pearl and her nurse Adelaide. The plot shifts to involve a young midshipman named Merle Monte, recently court-martialed for mutiny following his naval victory against Brandt's vessel. Brandt pressures Celine to retrieve presidential dispatches regarding Merle's fate, making the boy's pardon contingent upon her cooperation and her child's safety.