The Long Haired Bards; or, The Tartars of the Plains

Catalog Note This issue of Beadle and Adams' Dime Library (No. 985, September 8, 1897) contains the opening installment of "The Long Haired 'Pards'; The Tartars of the Plains" by Jos. E. Badger, Jr. The story follows two frontier scouts—the diminutive but skilled "Brut Comstock" and the tall, golden-haired "Happy Jack"—at a frontier fort celebrating Colonel Markham's daughter Kate's eighteenth birthday. When the arrogant Captain Lawrence Stone insults Happy Jack and wagers one hundred dollars that he will win an upcoming mounted game called "El Gallo," the scout accepts. The competition involves riders attempting to pluck a grease-covered rooster from the ground at full gallop, then racing it to a distant post while other riders pursue. Comstock captures the bird first but loses it; Happy Jack retrieves it and begins the race toward the post with competitors pursuing.