Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 479

This issue of the December 28, 1887 publication features "Yank Yellowbird's Castle Crusade" by Wm. H. Manning, a Western adventure serial set in the Montana mining-town of Sassajack. The narrative centers on competition between miners over the Rand sisters. Parkman and Jackingham, owners of Claim 22, encounter the menacing Steelblade, a thin, dark-featured loner who carries an unsheathed knife called "Bright Eyes" and alludes mysteriously to their past at Yellow Drift, offering his lethal services. At a ball at the Big Pocket Hotel, Steelblade briefly appears then exits. Later, he discovers another watcher at the hall's window: the mysterious "Sandy Whiskers," a meek, red-bearded miner of eight months who gives vague, evasive answers about his presence. The narrative breaks off as two persons exit the hall.