Over the past year or so, I’ve been really into learning more about President Theodore Roosevelt, at first because of my involvement in The Strenuous Life, a program put on by TheArtofManliness.com, but then simply because the guy was so blazing cool. In one biography by David McCullough, Mornings on Horseback, the author mentions young Teedy’s fascination with the Wild West, naming specifically Captain Reid and The Scalp Hunters. He writes:

“Captain Mayne Reid…was among the most popular authors of the day and especially with boys…An Irishman, Reid had exchanged the life of a tutor for that of trapper and trader on the American frontier and his books–The Boy Hunters, Hunters’ Feast, The Scalp Hunters–were rollicking adventures, full of action, violence, and grand-scale visions of the out of doors. God was in nature–a force–and nowhere so plainly as beyond the Mississippi.” (Mornings on Horseback, 115)

Of course, such an introduction from such an author about such a man got me so spirited I just had to look it up! So I went to Librivox.com and found a series of readers who recorded the fifty-seven-chapter novel as an audio book that lasts about twelve hours. I believe there are four different readers represented in this download, and—without naming names—I enjoyed the first guy’s rendition, and I eventually grew to like the lady’s as well (though her near-monotone took some getting used to).

The story follows a wealthy young man named Enrique who desires to experience the life of a hunter in the great West. Joining himself to a train of hunters, he makes his way through buffalo country—building himself a reputation all the while—down to New Mexico, where fate has a great deal in store for him. After nearly dying of thirst in Apache country, he awakens in a strange cabin with a French woman, a German botanist, and a beautiful girl. At first, we’re not entirely certain how old the girl is, but when her father catches them in an embrace (hopefully that was all), we find out she’s just twelve years old! Still, Enrique and Zoe have pledged their love to each other, and so now Enrique must prove his devotion, not to Zoe herself, but to her father.

And who does her father happen to be? The famed scalp hunter, Seguin. Over drinks one evening, Seguin tells Enrique his story, a true account that should wash away all the lies and legends about him. He’s not a psychopath who loves blood and murder. In fact, he’s a pretty normal guy whose family doesn’t even know his true occupation. But he’s a father who’s dedicated to vengeance following a terrible ordeal of betrayal and sorrow, during which Navajo warriors had raided his home and kidnapped his eldest daughter. Ever since then, knowing that Edelle was probably still alive in some encampment, Seguin the scalp hunter has been hunting down every Navajo tribe he could find in order to save his family.

In requiring that Enrique prove himself worthy of Zoe, Seguin invites the young man to a scalp-hunting venture. They, with a team of hundreds of wild and various men—including Native Americans from others tribes—head up the Del Norte River in search of Navajo land and, hopefully, a settlement. With many adventures, mirages, interesting characters and close scrapes in the mix, they eventually do happen upon a Navajo settlement, and they find the daughter. She’s too far gone, however, having been convinced that she is some great Mystery Queen. An offer to trade prisoners ends in disaster, and Enrique is taken captive. But with his wits still about him, he escapes and ultimately helps Seguin recapture Edelle.

Eventually everything turns out happily ever after, and somehow we feel great that Enrique gets the twelve-year-old girl. I can see how this novel would inspire a young Teddy Roosevelt back in the mid-to-late 19th century towards hankering for the great outdoors, but the girl’s age and the countless N-words used to describe the Native Americans (the Apaches and Navajos are apparently cannibals, too, by the way) all mean that this book likely needs a fair abridgment for today’s readers. Perhaps that’s my trigger warning, perhaps not. Just be aware of what’s inside.

I really enjoyed this book, especially more than the only other Reid book I’ve read, The Castaways. Whereas that book about improbable animal events upon a desert island seemed too fantastic for my tastes, this story was a cowboy-and-Indian tale that predates all the rest. This was no Louis L’Amour or Zane Grey story, but was grittier and felt more real. Yes, there were some fantastic scenes like when Enrique rode the buffalo, but overall it was realistic and engaging, it came from the heart of adventure, and I’ll definitely try another of Reid’s books sometime down the road.

©2020 E.T.

Read More on Wilderness Exploration:

• The Scalp Hunters by Captain Thomas Mayne Reid (1860)
• Away in the Wilderness by R.M. Ballantyne (1863)
• Love of Life and Other Stories by Jack London (1907)
• Daniel Boone: Wilderness Scout by Stewart Edward White (1921)
• Journal of a Trapper by Osborne Russell (1921)
• Trails Plowed Under by Charles M. Russell (1927)
• The Man in the Wilderness by Jack DeWitt (1971)
• Centennial by James Michener (1974)
• Blood and Treasure by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (2021)