Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1060: Marlo, the Renegade

This issue of Beadle and Adams (November 16, 1897) features the opening chapters of "Marlo, the Renegade; or, The Scapegrace of the Coast: A Romance of the Cowboy Smuggler's Last Cruise," by Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

The story is set at a ruined Spanish mission on the California coast. Senorita Lulita Samos is imprisoned there by Marco Fuentes, an outlaw ranchero who leads a gang called the Gold Ghouls. Fuentes demands she marry him; she refuses, even when threatened with death. The narrative reveals that Fuentes previously kidnapped her, was rescued by a castaway sailor named Marlo, and has now recaptured her using disguises and Native American guards. Marlo, presumed dead after being sentenced to drowning by his own people, survives and encounters a reward placard offering twenty thousand dollars for information about Samos's rescue or Fuentes's death. Recognizing an opportunity, Marlo determines to locate the mission and claim both bounties.