Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 511

# "The Rival Rancheros" by Major Sam S. Hall

This is the opening installment of a Western serial romance set in 1850s Texas. The story introduces three neighboring ranches on the San Marcos River: Henry Howard owns one, William Morgan another, and Morris Moore a third. Howard's son Hancock is a dissolute gambler and drinker; Morgan's son Manly is honest and virtuous; Moore's daughter Marion, fifteen, is beautiful and cultured. Both young men love Marion, though she clearly favors Manly.

The narrative becomes urgent when Marion, riding her pony through moss-draped timber while brooding over her dying father's consumption, encounters a massive black bear devouring a pig. The startled animal attacks. Marion's pony bolts; she clings to a tree branch directly over the enraged bear. Manly Morgan, who had set out to declare his love, hears her cries and rides toward the scene with his revolver.