Beadle's Pocket Library No. 284

The Mad Animal-Tamer Captain Frederick Whittaker's serial "The Mad Animal-Tamer" opens with artist Albert Austin and wealthy Louis Bonnelle sheltering from a tornado in the Adirondacks. Seeking shelter for the night, they discover a mysterious recluse who commands a menagerie of wild animals—bears, panthers, wolves—that obey his every command. The hermit, aided by Zip, a dwarfish creature, hosts them in a cavern dwelling hidden within a mountainside. Louis, beset by romantic rejection from a performer associated with showman Morelli, receives cynical counsel from their enigmatic host about love and friendship. The narrative combines wilderness adventure, animal-taming spectacle, and character study of misanthropic isolation.