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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1140
Beadle's Half-Dime Library No. 140 This serial installment features "Oregon Sol; Or, Nick Whiffles's Boy Spy," by Captain J. F. C. Adams (published by Beadle & Adams). The narrative follows two frontier trappers, Nick Whiffles and Oregon Sol, operating in the Northwest wilderness during the Indian Wars era. The story establishes tension around Marunyo, a young Indian youth of mixed or ambiguous loyalty whom the trappers employ. Oregon Sol distrusts him after witnessing him conferring with Modoc warriors led by Captain Jack, known for the assassination of General Canby. Nick characteristically deflects concern with tall tales about his family's suspicious nature. Marunyo arrives reporting that Modocs are traveling northward toward the Saskatchewan, claiming he must pursue them on a mysterious errand. After he departs, the narrative follows him as he scouts the region, discovers a Modoc camp containing captives, and carefully approaches by canoe under cover of darkness—revealing his role as a spy tracking the dangerous warriors and their prisoners.