The headless horseman characters. "The Headless Horseman": the main characters, a brief description. The main characters of the Headless Horseman

The Headless Horseman is amusing full of adventures, mysteries and love dramas novel American writer Mine Reed.

During my studies at school, I read many interesting books. But “The Headless Horseman” is my favorite work. Its author is the writer Mine Reed, who lived in the nineteenth century. He was an Englishman, but in his novel he talks about the American state of Texas and its inhabitants.

I liked the book very much. There are many scary and terrible episodes in it. When you read it, it’s like watching a horror movie. But there are many pleasant, joyful moments in Mein Reed's work. For example, love.

The main characters of the novel are Maurice Gerald and Louise Poindexter.

Maurice is a mustanger. He is brave, strong and determined. This young man can tame any mustang, even the most obstinate. He is also noble, honest and never does mean things and dirty tricks.

Of course, Louise, the daughter of a wealthy planter Woodley Poindexter, falls in love with such a hero, and also beautiful. The girl thinks that Maurice is poor, but this does not seem to be an obstacle to her. After all, money is not the main thing, but the main thing is love. And the mustanger also falls in love with Louise.

But the happiness of lovers is hindered by negative characters and their black feelings: envy, jealousy, anger ... The main negative character of the novel is cousin Louise's captain Cassius Colehoun. He loves his cousin and dreams of marrying her, and yet she gave her heart to another ... And this terribly angers Colehoun. He wants to take revenge on his opponent and is even ready to kill him.

First, the captain sticks to the mustanger and starts a duel. But this does not work, because both heroes survived, although they were wounded. Then Colehoun decides on the worst thing - to kill. He tracks down Maurice and cuts off his head. But only not to him, but to Louise Henry's brother. To your cousin.

It happened by accident. After all, Henry and Maurice changed their clothes as a sign of their friendship. And Cassius thought he was killing Maurice. And when he realized his mistake, he tried to convince everyone that the killer of dear Henry was Gerald.

And many people believed him. But not Louise! After all, a loving heart was beating in her chest, and it cannot lie.

Almost until the very end of the novel, it was not clear what would happen to the main characters. Will Maurice be able to prove his innocence? I was very worried about him and Louise. But, thank God, there is real friendship in the world! And the mustanger's friend Zeb Stump came to the aid of his comrade.

The truth turned out. Everyone learned that the headless horseman that people were so afraid of was the unfortunate Henry Poindexter. Cousin Colehoun killed him. And Maurice is not to blame.

Colehoun did not want to give up until the last, so he can be called brave too. And for this he can be respected, if only not for his evil qualities. When Maurice was acquitted, the captain tried to shoot him right in court. But the mustanger had a locket on his chest that Louise had given him. And the bullet missed the heart. And then Cassius Colehoun shot himself. Material from the site

The main characters got married and lived happily. They had many children. In addition, it turned out that the mustanger is a rich man.

And so it happened with the heroes of the book "The Headless Horseman".
Of course, I am very sorry for poor Henry. He is not guilty of anything at all. Still, the piece ended well. Louise and Maurice went through terrible trials, but stayed together. Love won, and evil was punished according to its merits.

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Year of writing: 1865

Genre: novel

Main characters: Gerald- mustanger, Cassius- a wealthy relative Poindexters, Louise and Henry- children of the master Poindexter

A wonderful, moderately mysterious and full of adventure story is carefully presented in the summary of the novel "The Headless Horseman" for reader's diary... It is recommended to read the original - you will love it!

Plot

Gerald participates in a mustang show and falls in love with Louise. The girl also has feelings for the young man. Cassius notices sympathy between them and is terribly jealous, because he wants to marry Louise. Gerald and Louise meet in secret. Gerald is a poor mustanger and cannot marry a rich aristocrat, but is going to leave, and upon his return, he will marry her. Their meeting is caught by Cassius and Henry. Henry quarrels with Gerald, he leaves. Louise explains to her brother that he is a noble man. Henry chases after the Mustanger, followed by Cassius. In the morning, Henry's bloodied horse comes to the estate without a rider. The search begins. A terrible headless horseman is seen in the forest. Everyone thinks it's Gerald. After numerous intrigues, it is revealed that Cassius accidentally killed Henry. Zeb Stump finds Gerald wounded in the forest and also solves Cassius's crime. Gerald and Louise stay together.

Conclusion (my opinion)

The main conclusion is that everything secret becomes apparent, and also that evil will certainly be avenged. Love and nobility cross all social barriers, and honesty and courage both men and women save human lives alike.

"Headless horseman"- a novel by Mein Reed, written in 1865 and based on the author's adventures in America.

The novel takes place in the fifties of the XIX century in the border regions of Texas. Wealthy planter Woodley Poindexter with his family of son, daughter and nephew, move from Louisiana to his new house, Casa del Corvo.

Lost on a scorched plain on their way to their new hacienda, the Poindexter family meets Maurice Gerald, a mustanger who lives near the military fort of Indge, but a native of northern Ireland. Maurice immediately impressed everyone in the family, but each one his own. Proud Woodley treated his savior with respect, his son Henry almost immediately fell in love with him with brotherly love, the young planter's sister Louise immediately fell in love with the mustanger, even despite his modest social status.

The nephew of old Poindexter, retired captain Cassius Colehoun, at the same moment hated the new hero, partly because he wanted to marry Louise himself, and partly because of his cowardice and arrogance.

Shortly after the Poindexters have settled in Casa del Corvo, the planter hosts a grand reception to celebrate the good move and get to know the Texas elite. Maurice Gerald is also present at this reception, who undertook to deliver two dozen wild horses to the planter's family. In accordance with Irish custom, he gives a rare and valuable mustang to the daughter of a planter, which further inflames love in her heart and hatred in the soul of her cousin. Now he is already firmly decides to remove the young mustanger from his path. Having conceived an insidious plan to kill Maurice, he decides to carry it out the next evening, in the bar of the village that has formed near Fort Inge. He allegedly accidentally pushed and doused the Irishman, who responded in kind. The resulting quarrel ends in a duel. Colehoun clearly underestimated his opponent, which he paid for, surviving only thanks to the generosity of Maurice. Thus, having won this battle, the mustanger won the respect of the locals and officers of the fort, and also made the retired captain fearful of him.

Colehoun does not back down from his plan to kill Maurice, but not with his own hands, but by paying another mustanger, the bandit Miguel Diaz. Diaz, having learned that the Indians were on the warpath, happily agrees to this business.

At the same time, after the recovery of Maurice, he and Louise began to secretly correspond with the help of the so-called. "Air mail", and then, unable to bear the long separation, to meet in the garden of Casa del Corvo. After their last meeting, a tragic event took place. Colehoun finds Maurice and Louise in the garden and persuades Louise's brother to kill the mustanger. Partly thanks to Louise's intercession, partly Henry's prudence, Maurice manages to get away unharmed. Young Poindexter, after listening to his sister, decides that he acted unwisely, and is going to catch up with Gerald and apologize to him. At night, he drives out in pursuit of the mustanger. Following Henry, his cousin Cassius leaves, but with a different purpose: he knows that tomorrow Maurice is leaving for Ireland, and decides to kill him that night.

The next morning, as they gather for breakfast, the Poindexter family discovers that Henry, contrary to his habit, did not get up on time and did not show up for an early breakfast. He was not in the house either. At this time, one of the slaves caught his horse on the prairie, without a rider and smeared with blood. Everyone thinks Henry Poindexter has been killed. In search of the body and the killer, a detachment of armed planters and soldiers is equipped, which in their search achieves some success and finds evidence of the death of the young man. While searching, this squad encounters a terrible headless horseman. Not finding a reasonable clue as to what it could be, the detachment goes for the night.

On the same night, Diaz and his accomplices, disguised as Indians, invades Maurice's dwelling on the Alamo with the clear intention of killing him. Not finding him there, they decide to wait for him in the hut. And soon someone arrived. But not the owner of the dwelling, but still the same headless horseman. Frightened to death, the bandits quickly retreated. They were the second to see the mysterious headless horseman.

Meanwhile, Maurice's friend, Zebulon Stump, worried about the loss of the Irishman, was in his hut with the servant Felim, who was frightened to death by the Indians. They receive a note from the mustanger, delivered by his dog Tara. They go to the indicated place and barely have time to kill the jaguar who attacked the guy. Maurice was very ill, because of what is unknown. The old hunter Stump and the mustanger's servant Felim take the young man to their house, where a search party finds him. Having found Henry's clothes in his hut, the regulators decide to arrange a lynching right on the spot. But thanks to the intervention of Zeb Stump, as well as Indian things in Maurice's hut, talking about a possible Comanche invasion, the trial is postponed.

Meanwhile, everyone is convinced that Henry Poindexter is dead and Maurice Gerald is responsible for his death. In a state of fever, he awaits a lawful trial in the guardhouse of Fort Inj. Some of the mustanger's friends, namely the major, the commandant of the fort, Spangler, Zeb Stump and Louise Poindexter, are sure that the murder was not committed by Maurice, but by someone else. Having won three extra days of the trial delay from the major, Zeb Stump goes to the prairie, where he is determined to find evidence of his friend's innocence. And he finds them, and also now knows exactly who real killer and what the mysterious headless horseman is. He reports everything to the commandant of the fort, and everyone is awaiting trial.

Having woken up from a darkened mind, Maurice gives testimony at the trial, which forces many to change their minds about the mustanger's guilt in this crime. Things change even more when people see the headless horseman approaching the place of judgment.

This is where this monstrous secret is revealed. All this time, Henry Poindexter was the headless horseman. And Colehoun killed him. This became known when it was possible to extract from Henry's body a bullet marked with the initials of Cassius Colehoun “K. K. K "(" Captain Cassius Colehoun "). From the testimony of Maurice it became clear that when Henry and Maurice met, according to the old Comanche custom, they exchanged clothes and hats as a sign of reconciliation. Maurice then left, and Henry stayed in that place, and after them there came the retired captain who pursued them. Seeing a man in Mexican clothes, he mistook his brother for Maurice and shot him with a gun, and then chopped off the head of the corpse. Maurice, who formerly lived among the Comanches, became acquainted with their custom of delivering soldiers who died in battle astride their war horses, hoisted Henry's body on his horse, and tied his head to the bow of the saddle. He himself sat on Henry's horse, but, not knowing how to control someone else's horse, turned him in the direction of the terrible rider. The horse was frightened by the terrible sight and carried it away. Maurice, on the other hand, hit his head on a thick branch of a tree, fell from his horse and received a severe concussion. This was the reason for his sudden illness. A horse with a decapitated corpse roamed the prairie for a long time until it was at the final trial.

The main characters of the Headless Horseman

Maurice Gerald - main character, a poor mustanger in the United States and a wealthy baronet at home.
Louise Poindexter is Maurice's lover.
Woodley Poindexter - Louise's father, a planter.
Cassius Colehoun - Woodley's nephew, a retired military man with a scandalous reputation, loves Louise, shot himself at the final trial.
Henry Poindexter - Louise's brother, killed and beheaded by his cousin, who mistook him for Maurice, his corpse and is the Headless Horseman.
Old Zebulon Stump is a hunter, friend of Maurice, who saved his life and proved his innocence.
Miguel Diaz - Mexican, nicknamed "El Coyote", was executed after the murder of Isidora.
Isidora Covarubio De Los Llanos - Diaz's beloved, in love with Maurice, killed by Diaz.
Major Ringwood - Officer, delayed Maurice's trial for three days.
Spengler is a tracker who participated in the search for Henry or his body, one of the first to see the Headless Horseman.
Pluto is a servant in the Poindexter family.
Felim O'Neal is Maurice's servant and foster brother.
Tara - Maurice's dog, rescued him several times from coyotes.
Sam Manley is the leader of the regulars, the only one who believed in Maurice's innocence.
Horsemen, regulars, people on trial, Diaz's accomplices, servants.
Oberdofer - innkeeper

Reid's Headless Horseman was written in 1865. The plot of the story was based on the author's fascinating adventures in America, which made a great impression on him.

main characters

Maurice Gerald- a mustanger, a young, handsome man, noble and courageous.

Louise Poindexter- Maurice's beloved, a beautiful, educated girl.

Other characters

Woodley Poindexter- Louise's father, a bankrupt planter.

Henry- the son of Woodley Poindexter, a young, hot youth.

Cassius Colehoun- Poindexter's nephew, in love with Louise.

Zebalon Stump (Zeb)- an experienced hunter and tracker, friend of Maurice.

Isidora de Los Llanos- a young Mexican woman in love with Maurice.

Felim- Maurice's servant.

Chapters 1-9

Ten wagons laden with food, luxurious furnishings and black slaves stretch across the scorched, deserted prairie. It makes its way to Texas Woodley Poindexter - a bankrupt planter. He is accompanied by his son Henry, daughter Louise and nephew Cassius Colhoun.

Suddenly, they find out that they are lost on the prairie, and have no idea in which direction to go. A rider came to their aid - "beautifully built, with regular features" a young man named Maurice Gerald. Strong and fearless, he traded by catching wild horses, and therefore had the nickname Maurice the mustanger. Louise fell in love with him at first sight.

Chapters 10-12

After a safe arrival at Wundley's site, Poindexter and his family firmly settled in the Casa del Corvo estate. Asienda was located "within a cannon-shot distance of Fort Inj", not far from the river.

On the occasion of the housewarming, the Poindexters organized a dinner party, in the midst of which Maurice the Mustanger appeared. He brought a herd of wild horses, which he had caught at the request of the old planter. Everyone's attention was attracted by the unusual coloring of the mustang - a mare "dark chocolate in color with white spots scattered as evenly as dark spots on the skin of a jaguar."

Mr. Poindexter was ready to pay the young man a round sum for a beautiful horse, but he flatly refused and presented the mustang as a present "for luck" to Louise. In front of everyone, he showed his skill and deftly tamed the wild mustang.

Chapters 13-18

After a while, the commandant of Fort Inge gave a reciprocal reception by organizing a sumptuous picnic on the prairie. And "for the amusement of the guests, they decided to arrange a hunt for wild horses." Maurice the mustanger acted as a guide.

When the “wild herd appeared on the crest of the hill,” the speckled mare, on which Louise was sitting, “rushed at a frantic gallop” towards her fellows. Maurice was frightened in earnest - if the mare catches up with the herd, she will certainly try to throw off the rider. He rushed in pursuit, followed by Colhoun, hopelessly in love with Louise and the other riders.

When Maurice caught up with Louise, he realized that they were in another danger - wild stallions, which at this time of year became "more dangerous than a wolf, panther or bear." They had to flee from a herd of mustangs, and the danger passed only when Maurice killed their leader with a well-aimed shot.

Noticing that they were not far from his hut, Maurice invited the girl to look at her. Louise "was pleasantly surprised to find books, paper, writing materials and other little things in the hut that testified to the master's education."

Meanwhile, of the forty horsemen who rushed to help Louise, only a few survived the race. Among them was Cassius Colehoun, who was burnt out with jealousy. Having caught up with Louise and the mustanger, he confirmed his guess - the cousin was carried away by her savior.

Chapters 19-27

In the evening of the same day, the men gathered in the bar of the hotel "Na halt". Colehoun offered the company a toast, which turned out to be very offensive to the Irishman Maurice. He also deliberately "nudged the mustanger with his elbow," and his whiskey spilled onto his shirt. In response, Maurice "threw the remains of half-drunk whiskey in his face."

It became clear that the quarrel would end in a firefight, during which both opponents were wounded. However, Maurice managed at gunpoint to force Coalhoun to ask for forgiveness.

"Severe, almost fatal wounds" confined both rivals to bed. Due to the great loss of blood, Maurice was forced to stay in a pitiful hotel room. Soon, baskets of provisions began to arrive. It turned out that this was the work of Isidora de Los Llanos, who was in love with him, whom the mustanger had once saved from the Indians.

Louise found out about her rival and, tormented by the throes of jealousy, decided to arrange a meeting with Maurice. Young people stopped hiding their feelings and confessed their love to each other.

Chapters 28-34

Woodley Poindexter forbade his daughter to ride when he learned the latest news - "Comanches on the warpath." Realizing that meetings with her lover on the prairie were now out of the question, Louise decided to go for a trick. Since she was an excellent archer, she invited Maurice to exchange letters using arrows.

But soon the lovers did not have enough air mail, and they began to meet at night in the courtyard of the estate. A witness of one such meeting of a hundred Cassius, who decided to deal with Maurice forever with the help of Henry Poindexter. He managed to embroil young people.

Maurice told his brother and sister that he had to urgently leave for his homeland, and promised to return in six months. Henry followed the mustanger to apologize.

Chapters 35-54

Colehoun, enraged by Henry's behavior, followed the young man when he decided to apologize to Maurice. The next day, it became known that Henry was missing, and later his horse, stained with blood, galloped up.

In search of the young man, a detachment immediately set off, which soon came across a pool of blood and the footprints of two horses. Learning that before his disappearance, Henry was looking for Maurice, it was decided to go to the mustanger's hut.

Meanwhile, a friend of Maurice, an experienced hunter and tracker Zebulon Stump, nicknamed Zeb, appeared in Casa del Corvo. “Louise told Zeb everything she knew,” she feared that Maurice was the prime suspect in her brother's disappearance. To save her beloved from merciless reprisal, she asked Zeb to immediately go to the mustanger's hut and warn him.

In the hut, Zeb discovered Felim, the Irish servant of Maurice. Soon his dog Tara came running, to whose collar a note written in blood was tied. Zeb and Felim immediately went to the aid of a mustanger in trouble - he was seriously wounded.

Chapters 55-85

Isidora went to Maurice's hut to visit him, but he was unconscious. Louise, suspecting something was wrong, decided to "break all the rules of decency" and come to Maurice to confirm her suspicions of treason. In the hut, at the bedside of the mustanger, she met Isidora.

On the way home, a proud Mexican woman showed the detachment the way to Maurice's home, not suspecting that she had betrayed him in this way. Seeing his daughter there, Mr. Poindexter ordered her to return immediately to Casa del Corvo.

The men, fueled by Colehoun's false testimony, were ready to hang the wounded mustanger without trial or investigation. And only thanks to the intercession of Zeb, the young man managed to avoid the noose - he was sent to Fort Inj, and locked up in the guardhouse.

Zeb, without wasting a moment, went to the prairie to spend own investigation... There he met the mysterious headless horseman, who in recent times scared the locals to death. However, Zeb was convinced that this headless horseman "was not a scarecrow nor a devil." It was "someone's trick ... someone's devilish trick." He decided to hunt him down and shoot the fearful horse.

While awaiting the trial of the mustanger, Colehoun asked Poindexter for his daughter's hand. He refused, but his nephew recalled that he was his debtor and should not refuse. In a private conversation, Louise also "flatly refused Colehoun." Then he threatened that at the trial he would tell about the quarrel between her brother and her lover, which would become irrefutable proof of his guilt.

Chapters 86-100

At the trial, Maurice told how Henry caught up with him and apologized for being too harsh. As a sign of reconciliation, they "exchanged hats and cloaks." Henry went home and Maurice spent the night in the woods. He woke up from the sound of a shot, but did not attach much importance to this. In the morning, he found Henry's corpse, whose head had been "chopped off."

Mustanger decided to return to the fort to deliver the young man's body. To do this, he fixed it on his horse, since Henry's horse was very frightened. Out of old habit, Maurice did not take the reins in his hands, but a strange horse carried him, and he hit the branch of a tree with all his might, fell out of the saddle and lost consciousness. Only thanks to the faithful dog Tara, who found him, the seriously wounded mustanger managed to send a message about himself.

At that moment Zeb appeared, leading the "horse of the headless horseman." He presented evidence of the guilt of Colehoun, who mistakenly shot Henry, not knowing that he had changed clothes with Maurice. Realizing that there was no way back, Colehoun put a bullet in his forehead.

It turned out that Maurice was not a poor mustanger, but "the Irish baronet Sir Maurice Gerald", the owner of a large fortune. He married Louise, paid off all his father-in-law's debts. After the wedding, the newlyweds “went to travel to Europe,” but soon returned to Casa del Corvo, where they happily healed. Ten years later, their friendly family was replenished with "six adorable babies."

Conclusion

In his work, Mine Reed emphasized that one should not judge a person by his appearance, wallet thickness or origin. A kind, noble heart can beat in the chest of an ordinary mustanger, and a noble gentleman can be the last villain.

After reading the short retelling of The Headless Horseman, we recommend that you read the novel in full.