The Mystic Canoe

Catalog Entry *Beadle's Dime Novels No. 82* contains two featured works. "The Golden Harpoon; or, Lost Among the Floes" by Roger Starbuck is a sea tale set on the whaling grounds, centering on the skipper's niece as heroine amid dangers involving romance and a lover's tribulations. The primary serial, "The Mystic Canoe: A Romance of One Hundred Years Ago" by Edward S. Ellis (author of *Seth Jones* and *Frontier Angel*), is set on Lake Erie a century prior. It follows Basil Veghte, a skilled hunter and frontier scout, who becomes obsessed with tracking an Indian girl named Mariano after she rejects his marriage proposal. For months he secretly observes her daily canoe journeys to nearby islands, suspecting involvement with the antagonist Horace Johnson. The narrative explores Veghte's inner conflict between propriety and desire as he pursues understanding of her mysterious activities.