The New York Dime Library No. 1000

Buffalo Bill's Grim Guard; or, The Chinaman in Buckskin by Col. Prentiss Ingraham

This story, set in the 1850s at an Overland Trail station, opens as a division chief challenges his men to undertake a dangerous rescue mission. Buffalo Bill arrives and volunteers without knowing the details. The chief reveals that his brother, Leonard Langdon, is trapped in the remote Big Horn Basin with two companions, survivors of a gold-hunting party. The brother's coded letter requests a single messenger bring a coach with provisions, weapons, gold bags, and medicine—no more than one man, or the survivors won't emerge. Only Bill volunteers. He learns the region is lethal: a lieutenant and eight soldiers vanished there (California Joe found only their bones); a white scout disappeared similarly. Over three months, Bill must navigate unmapped terrain with a coach, extra horses, spare wheels, and supplies. The chief offers thousand dollars if survivors are found, equivalent payment to Bill's mother if he perishes. Bill accepts and begins outfitting a coach with provisions and equipment for his wilderness journey.