Beadle's Pocket Library No. 317

Buckskin Ben, of Texas: Single-Eye's Plucky Pards This dime novel serial by "Buckskin Sam" (Maj. Sam S. Hall) follows a wagon train moving to the San Saba River in Texas during spring 1859. Major Simon La Coste, an aging soldier of the Texan and Mexican wars, leads the expedition with his family and enslaved workers, guided by "Single-Eye," a one-eyed ranger skeptical of the venture. The narrative centers on La Coste's beautiful sixteen-year-old daughter Lula, who becomes separated while riding her white pony. Ambushed by a line of painted Indians blocking her path, she flees in terror toward the dense riverside timber as warriors pursue on mustangs. The opening chapters establish frontier perils—wolves, hostile tribes, and wild terrain—threatening the colonization enterprise, with Lula's endangered innocence as the emotional focus.