The Mystery of Rascal Pratt: or, The Pretty Red

The long Civil War now over, a small, storm-battered boat washes ashore in a remote cove somewhere north of San Francisco. In this rousing and heroic adventure tale, three friends rescue a mysterious young shipwreck victim, who in turn rewards them by spurning all friendship, boasting instead to be a pirate, a laughable claim that cannot possibly be true, especially since the days of piracy are long, long over.

But time and again, the strange newcomer proves to really have some of the handy skills that go along with pirating and becomes the trusted agent of an elderly man in search of a rumored treasure as a means of buying his freedom out of servitude from a powerful landowner. An alliance of necessity is forged, though not without triggering cannon-fire, testing identities of family, of race, of gender, and threatening to wake secrets buried across generations.