Pathfinder, or The Missing Tenderfoot

Captain Alan DouglasProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 222K words
Chapters: 23

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Pathfinder; or, The Missing Tenderfoot by Captain Alan DouglasAuthor: Douglas, Alan, Captain,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 8, 2007

Editor's review

This book is a boys' adventure novel from Project Gutenberg's free ebook library, credited to Captain Alan Douglas. Judging from the title and classification, the story centers on the disappearance of a "tenderfoot" lacking wilderness experience, a typical juvenile outdoor adventure narrative: young characters are tested in unfamiliar surroundings, and the plot moves forward through tracking, judgment, and teamwork. Works of this kind are valuable for their brisk pace and plot-driven structure; they suit readers new to English originals and offer a window into the narrative conventions and values of early twentieth-century boys' adventure stories. As a public-domain electronic text from Gutenberg, the edition is plain text without modern notes or introduction, so readers must adjust to early English usage and period context on their own. It works well as light English extensive reading; mapping characters and plot threads as you go helps convey the suspense of the search.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young readers seeking light English originals for extensive reading
Story lovers who enjoy outdoor adventure and missing-person mysteries
Teachers needing free public-domain English texts as classroom supplements
Researchers interested in the narrative patterns of early boys' adventure fiction

Not a good fit for

Learners who want editions with detailed notes and introductions
Readers who prefer complex literary technique and deep psychological portrayal
Readers with weak English who cannot independently read a long original

Reading tips

Skim chapter titles and opening paragraphs first to build a character list and timeline, then read closely.
After each chapter, summarize key developments in two or three sentences to check you are following the search thread.
Mark early English expressions or unfamiliar words and look them up after finishing the chapter to avoid breaking the rhythm.
Read alongside other boys' adventure novels to observe shared plot conventions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What English level is this book roughly suited to?

It is an early English boys' adventure novel. Sentence structure is generally straightforward, but it contains period expressions and some unfamiliar words. It suits readers with high-school-level English or above who can persist through a long original text; beginners should start with a retold edition or use dictionary tools.

What should I note about the Gutenberg edition?

This is a public-domain electronic text in plain form, typically without modern editorial notes, background introduction, or illustration captions. Before reading, it helps to learn the period background yourself and be patient with early spelling and punctuation conventions, rather than mistaking minor differences for errors.

What reading pace suits the main story?

The book advances on the suspense of the missing tenderfoot, so reading chapter by chapter, one or two a day, keeps the suspense alive without fatigue. When key clues appear, pause to predict what happens next and then check against the text; this makes reading more engaging.

Comments

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About the author

Captain Alan Douglas Author

Douglas, Alan, Captain is a byline attached to early twentieth-century boys' adventure fiction. Reliable details of his life are scarce: his nationality and dates of birth and death are unrecorded, and public information is limited. About ten works appear under this name, best known through the Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts series, including The Pathfinder, The Fast Nine, The Endurance Test and Woodcraft. Their plots revolve around scouting, camping, hiking and outdoor survival, stressing teamwork, grit and a boy's sense of responsibility. Such books carried forward the youth-reading fashion encouraged by the Boy Scout movement, notable for action and suspense and written in a plain, direct style. Some catalogues attribute these works to G. Harvey Ralphson, but this has not been authoritatively confirmed, so the authorship remains uncertain.