Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 427

This issue of Beadle and Adams' dime novel (September 29, 1885) features "Old Rocky on the Rampage," a western tale by "Buckskin Sam" (Mason S. Hall). The narrative opens on the Texas plains near the Rio Concho, where a muscular young man lies spread-eagled and bound to stakes in the sun—tortured by Apache raiders. Nearby, his infant son writhes in agony from heat, hunger, and thirst. The father, hearing his child's cries, despairs utterly, learning through his anguished whispers that his wife Marion has also been captured by the "red demons." As wolves howl and vultures circle overhead, a distant war-whoop signals unexpected rescue—gunfire erupts as armed riders engage the predators. The bound man loses consciousness, saved from imminent death. The narrative establishes frontier settings including Camp Johnston and a hidden log-cabin at the confluence of two streams, positioning subsequent action within this border landscape.