Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 90

This 1880 Beadle and Adams dime novel, "Wild Will, the Mad Ranchero," serializes a frontier adventure by "Buckskin Sam" (Major Sam S. Hall). The narrative opens at William Halliday's ranch on the Medina River near San Antonio, establishing the domestic scene—Halliday's wife, aged mother, beautiful sixteen-year-old daughter Mary, and infant. Family conversation reveals concern about Indian raids and introduces Kit Carson, Jr., a temperate young ranger whom Mary admires. Chapter II erupts into violence when Comanches attack the cabin. Will Halliday returns under fire; the family barricades themselves inside. Mary shoots a warrior attempting to enter through the roof via an overhanging pecan tree. Will repels a battering-ram assault on the door. The attackers then breach the roof, dropping warriors into the cabin interior as the installment concludes with impending combat.