
A sweltering June day finds the mighty steamboat Dogfish churning its way down the Arkansas River, its decks crowded with weary travelers seeking shade and a brief respite from the heat. Amid the clatter of cargo and the hiss of steam, a rough‑looking crew of men gathers around a makeshift betting table, their boisterous gambling and coarse chatter painting a vivid picture of life on the river’s edge. At the center of this unruly group stands a tall, gaunt figure known as “the Colonel,” his scarred face, fiery beard, and arsenal of pistols marking him as a man both feared and respected.
As the ship nears Lewisburg, the tension between the rowdy gamblers and the ship’s officers begins to surface, hinting at deeper conflicts hidden beneath the surface of the river’s glittering waters. Listeners will be drawn into the gritty atmosphere of the 19th‑century frontier, where survival, chance, and the promise of hidden treasure intertwine on a journey that has only just begun.
Language
nl
Duration
~21 hours (1243K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/
Release date
2007-06-20
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1842–1912
A master of grand adventure stories, this hugely popular German writer sent generations of readers into the American West, the Middle East, and beyond. His tales of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand became some of the best-known adventure fiction in the German-speaking world.
View all books