“For all that you have no right to assemble in the Park, as you declare yourselves determined upon doing.”
He was compelled to abandon The Little Times for want of funds, and also from his health breaking down under the strain of night and day work.
After resting a while, Mayne Reid wrote “The Finger of Fate,” the first part of which appeared in the Boy’s Own Magazine, December, 1867.
“The Finger of Fate” has since earned a fame its author never anticipated for it, his widow having to defend her rights (and that successfully) in the Chancery Division against an infringement of the copyright, and a leader in The Times was devoted to the subject. The book ends with a trial in favour of the plaintiff!
He had also a short tale, “The Fatal Cord,” running in a periodical, the Boys of England, and had engaged to write “The Planter Pirate” for the same paper.
Chapter Thirteen.
New York.
In October, 1867, Captain and Mrs Mayne Reid went to the United States, arriving at Newport, Rhode Island, in November. Here they took a furnished cottage for the winter.