Beadle's Dime Library No. 650

This issue of Beadle and Adams weekly (April 8, 1891) features "Uncle Bedrock's Queer Game at Ginger Flat" by William R. Eyster, a Western adventure serial. A young gambler traveling between mining camps overhears two men discussing a hidden fortune and a woman's arrival, then encounters two schemers—"the Deacon" and Hark Havens—who possess a letter revealing a hundred-thousand-dollar cache of gold nuggets buried in an abandoned mine called the Swallow Tail. The letter, written by a deceased prospector to his wife, contains cryptic directions hidden in alternating lines. The men seek information about Lester Lawrence, who apparently holds related papers. The narrative develops around competing parties pursuing the hidden treasure, with complications from unknown rivals also after the prize.