Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 939

# Desert Dan, the Saddle Prince of the Rio Hondo

This installment opens with prospectors in New Mexico's Trinchera Mountains who discover a dying woman, Carlita Bond, who recounts a tragedy from fifteen years prior. During a gold expedition, her party was attacked by Indians led by a white traitor. As a desperate measure, Señor Mead surgical planted a locket containing crucial information into the shoulder of his young colt, Black Boy, then set the horse free carrying his three-year-old daughter, Dolly. The colt vanished. Carlita survived twelve years enslaved in an Apache camp before escaping. Captain Clarke vows to locate the now-wild Black Robber—possibly the original colt—believing it may contain evidence identifying Mead's murderer.

In Chapter II, the young ranchero Desert Dan accepts a thousand-dollar commission from Don Alvar de Vaca to capture the legendary unridable stallion Black Robber. Dan pursues the horse and its herd into the desert. The narrative promises further developments with hints of Desert Pirates and rival horse-hunters also pursuing the valuable animal.