Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 867

Catalog Note *The Cowboy Smuggler Smash-up: A Romance of the Gold Ghouls of California* by Col. Prentiss Ingraham continues a serial narrative of maritime and frontier adventure. The featured issue depicts multiple intersecting pursuits along the California coast: Marlo, a smuggler from Point Desolation, has stolen the schooner *Sea Pearl* and fled with it; Ralph Rollo ("Dead-Shot Ralph"), the adopted son of Chief Karl Kenton, pursues him in the *Idle Wings*; and Captain Karl himself follows in the sloop *Racer*. The revenue cutter *Rush*, commanded by Captain Edgar Yerger, joins the chase. A crucial revelation occurs when Yerger discovers that Karl Kenton is actually Kent Carleton, the brother-in-law he long believed guilty of forgery—Kenton's wife Valerie is Yerger's lost sister. The narrative climaxes in a violent storm that wrecks the *Sea Pearl*, killing most of its crew; Marlo alone survives, washing ashore exhausted. The story combines nautical action with melodramatic family reconciliation and adventure-serial plot mechanics.