Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 287

# Catalog Note: Beadle's Dime Library Vol. XXIII, No. 287 (April 23, 1884)

"Dandy Dave and His Horse, White Stocking; or, Ducats or Death," a Western tale by Buckskin Sam (Major Samuel S. Hall), occupies this issue. The story opens in Port Lavaca on the Texas Gulf Coast, where two seasoned rascals—Bob Barnes, a florid man flush with ostentatious jewelry, and Lance Lanewood, a thin, cadaverous schemer in clerical dress—reunite to plan a lucrative conspiracy. Lanewood reveals his scheme: he intends to exploit his estrangement from his brother, Major Maurice Moreland, a wealthy Brazos River planter. Years earlier, Moreland forbade Lanewood from his house after Lanewood made improper advances toward a female guest. Now, Lanewood proposes to use his fraternal connection to exact both financial and personal revenge against his brother. Barnes, broke and desperate, accepts Lanewood's proposition of "ducats or death." The fragment ends before the full scheme unfolds.