Mayne Reid

Texas in the 19th century. The War with Mexico is still a recent memory, marauding Comanches are a daily threat for new settlers of the Lone Star State. Louise Poindexter, a beautiful newcomer, is courted by two men - the arrogant and vindictive Cassius Calhoun and the dashing but poor mustanger Maurice Gerald. Calhoun plots to eliminate his rival when tragedy strikes: Louise's brother, the young Henry Poindexter is murdered. All clues point to Maurice Gerald as the assassin. At the same time an eerie rider is spotted in the environs of the Poindexter plantation - a horseman without a head! Is it the ghost of Henry Poindexter crying out for revenge? Is it the Devil himself laying claim to the blood-tainted land? Many puzzling and frightful events will take place before the mystery of the Headless Horseman is solved and the murderer of Henry Poindexter is brought before Justice.

The Headless Horseman

This novel was originally published in 1859. Mayne Reid, a pre-eminent and popular writer, was primarily a novelist (1818-1883) who wrote adventure stories from just before the Civil War until his death in 1883. Reid's career included two periods in the U. S: 1840-49 and 1867-70. He had emigrated to the United States in his early twenties, reaching New Orleans in January, 1840, where he pursued a varied career as a shopkeeper, overseer of slaves, schoolmaster, and actor, with occasional forays into hunting and Indian warfare. Reid returned to England in 1849, and embarked upon a successful career as a writer of adventure novels and books for boys He was a close friend of Poe (though their writings were miles apart), played a gallant role in the Mexican War, worked as a journalist and wrote most of his first novel while in the United States. He was an influence on the young mind of Teddy Roosevelt, as Roosevelt reveals in his Autobiography; while Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in his 1890s essay "Juvenilia" that when young he always kept "Mr. Ballantyne or Captain Mayne Reid at my elbow"; Robert Louis Stevenson praised Reid in the Vailima Letters, and J. Frank Dobie has said he, "dared convey real information in his romances."

The Red Fawn of the Flower Land

Osceola the Seminole

"The Plant Hunters: Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains" by Mayne Reid. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

The Plant Hunters: Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains

Thomas Mayne Reid (1818-1883), was an Irish- American novelist. "Captain" Reid wrote many adventure novels akin to those written by Frederick Marryat and Robert Louis Stevenson. These novels contain action that takes place primarily in untamed settings: the American West, Mexico, South Africa, the Himalayas, and Jamaica. Reid had his first poem published in Godey's Lady's Book under the pseudonym "A Poor Scholar." Books such as The Young Voyagers (1853) had great popularity, especially with boys. He was also very popular around the world; his tales of the American West captivated children everywhere, including Europe and Russia. Among his books, many of which were popular in translation in Poland and Russia, were The Rifle Rangers (1850), Scalp Hunters (1851), Boy Hunters (1853), War Trail (1851), Boy Tar (1859), and Headless Horseman (1865/6).

The White Chief

A Tale of the Flowery Land

The Half-blood

The Guerilla Chief and Other Tales

The Death-shot: a Tale Retold

A Strange Tale of Texas

Or, Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains

The Plant Hunters

The Plant Hunters, Or, Adventures Amoung the Himalaya Mountains

“A Plant-Hunter! what is that?“We have heard of fox-hunters, of deer-hunters, of bear and buffalo-hunters, of lion-hunters, and of 'boy-hunters;' of a plant-hunter never.“Stay! Truffles are plants. Dogs are used in finding them; and the collector of these is termed a truffle-hunter. Perhaps this is what the Captain means?”No, my boy reader. Something very different from that. My plant-hunter is no fungus-digger. His occupation is of a nobler kind than contributing merely to the capricious palate of the gourmand. To his labours the whole civilised world is indebted—yourself among the rest. Yes, you owe him gratitude for many a bright joy. For the varied sheen of your garden you are indebted to him. The gorgeous dahlia that nods over the flower-bed—the brilliant peony that sparkles on the parterre—the lovely camelia that greets you in the greenhouse,—the kalmias, the azaleas, the rhododendrons, the starry jessamines, the gerania, and a thousand other floral beauties, are, one and all of them, the gifts of the plant-hunter. By his agency England—cold cloudy England—has become a garden of flowers, more varied in species and brighter in bloom than those that blossomed in the famed valley of Cashmere. Many of the noble trees that lend grace to our English landscape,—most of the beautiful shrubs that adorn our villas, and gladden the prospect from our cottage-windows, are the produce of his industry. But for him, many fruits, and vegetables, and roots, and berries, that garnish your table at dinner and dessert, you might never have tasted. But for him these delicacies might never have reached your lips. A good word, then, for the plant-hunter!

The Fatal Cord

Or the Hunt of the Wild Horse ; a Romance of the Prairie

The War-trail

The Wood-rangers; Or, The Trappers of Sonora

The Wild Huntress

A Tale of the Gran Chaco

Gaspar, the Gaucho

The free lances

The Young Voyageurs; Or, The Boy Hunters in the South ...

This book has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.

The Finger of Fate A Romance

A Tale of Adventure

The Land of Fire

Mayne Reid

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