Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 321

This issue of Beadle and Adams' weekly (Vol. XTTT, No. 321, September 18, 1883) contains the opening installment of "Deadwood Dick's Dozen; or, The Fakir of Phantom Flats" by Edward L. Wheeler, author of the Deadwood Dick and Rosebud Rob novel series.

The Western adventure opens with two female captives—young Agnes Blye and her elderly companion Miss Spilkins—being transported through a stormy mountain pass by brigands under the command of the masked outlaw Black Bob, who demands ransom from Agnes's father. Before Black Bob can act on his intentions toward Agnes, the legendary gunslinger Deadwood Dick appears, confronts the brigand over a past murder, and shoots him. Dick escorts Agnes away on horseback, leaving Miss Spilkins to have escaped into the gulch. The installment concludes with Dick and Agnes reaching shelter in a cave, where Dick suggests they wait for her father to arrive at Phantom Flats.