Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 190

# Dandy Darke; or, The Tigers of High Pine

This frontier adventure serial by William R. Eyster follows Mark Dorland, a fugitive fleeing east with his wife Miriam and young son Dane, seeking refuge in western wilderness lands. The caravan—two wagons, oxen, and two colored drovers—camps beside a river where they encounter Scarlet Bear (Mato Luta), a wounded Indian brave they previously aided, who leaves his granddaughter as surety while he summons his tribe for protection.

That night, a drifter named Bill Blake arrives demanding food. Shortly after, a coordinated attack erupts from darkness: volleys of gunfire decimate the camp. Mark and Miriam are killed instantly; the colored drovers are wounded then knifed. Young Dane and the Indian child, warned earlier by the girl's premonition, hide in wagon shadows and escape. The attackers—apparently organized pursuers—ransack the camp, their leader commanding subordinates to examine the bodies.