A Treasury of Swashbuckling Adventures

A flash of steel, a clash of blades, the roar of shot from a smoking musket! These are the basics of the swashbuckling adventure story, which for more than a century has thrilled readers with exciting accounts of chivalrous swordsmen, pillaging pirates, and gallant musketeers. A Treasury of Swashbuckling Adventures features fourteen classic tales whose accounts of heroic derring-do unfold upon the battlefield of Waterloo, the high seas of the Spanish Main, the sandy steppes of Persia, the streets of France at the height of the Reign of Terror, and other places where adventurers prove their honor with sword and steel.   Selections include:  The Prisoner of Zenda—Anthony Hope. When King Rudolf, the rightful ruler of Ruritania, is kidnapped on the eve of his coronation and hastened to a hideout in a castle in Zenda, his look-alike cousin Rudolf Rassendyll impersonates him to save the crown and launch a daring rescue mission to restore the monarch to his throne.  The Story of Cyrano de Bergerac—Edmond Rostand and Ann O’Hagan. Based on the life of the historical poet, playwright, and duelist, this rousing tale tells of the valorous soldier Cyrano, who proves that all is fair in love and war when he agrees to write letters on behalf of the cadet Christian in order to woo Roxane—the very woman for whom he burns with unrequited loved.   The Corsican Brothers—Alexandre Dumas. Although separated surgically at birth and embarked on different paths in life, Lucien and Louis de Franchi each feels the others’ pain—a psychic bond that becomes a matter of life and death when Louis is appointed to mediate in the vendetta between the feuding Orlandi and Colona families.  How the Brigadier Bore Himself at Waterloo—Arthur Conan Doyle. Full of the swagger and braggadocio that makes him so unforgettable, the irrepressible Brigadier Etienne Gerard tell of his hair-raising adventures when trapped behind enemy lines at Waterloo, and of his heroic triumphs in a battle that his Emperor had the misfortune to lose.  How Jean-Pierre Met the Scarlet Pimpernel—Baroness Orczy. Trapped with their ailing child in the besieged town of Lyons, Mme. and M. de Marquise are dependent on the benevolence of that mysterious aristocrat, the Scarlet Pimpernel, for whom charade and masquerade prove invaluable aids in his arsenal of weaponry.   Captain Blood . Unjustly convicted of treason against the British crown and transported to Barbados to be sold into slavery, British physician Peter Blood effects his escape and, as the notorious pirate Captain Blood, wages war against nations who would dare to raise arms against the very country that so shamefully disserved him.