Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 62: The Luckless Trapper

About this issue

This issue of The Haunted Hunter; or, Bill Blaze, the Luckless Trapper by William R. Eyster is a frontier adventure serial. Chapter I introduces a seasoned trapper who witnesses a rifle shot fired nearby. A mysterious marksman named Winkle encounters Dick Martin, leader of the Free Trappers gang operating along Back Load Trail. Their tense conversation concerns Winkle's search for a specific quarry—a man whose left eye he intends to shoot out. During their parley, a body is violently thrown into the stream from the adjacent bushes, suggesting a deadly struggle between two unseen combatants. The corpse drifts downstream with a chest wound. Chapter II follows Winkle as he tracks the apparent killer, discovering trails indicating both white and Indian participants in the struggle. The serial combines frontier gunplay with mystery and pursuit elements.