Beadle's Dime Library No. 939: Dashing Charlie's Man Hunt

# Dashing Charlie's Man-Hunt: The Gentleman Sport

This dime novel by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham concerns treasure-hunting and frontier violence in New Mexico. A masked outlaw chief called Muello leads four men on a gold hunt following a map and sealed instructions from Lieutenant Frederic Gibbs, a prisoner he'd tortured. The instructions prove a ruse: Gibbs admits he never knew the treasure's location and has sent Muello on a week-long wild chase to enable his own rescue by scouts. Enraged, Muello vows Gibbs will die under torture upon their return.

Meanwhile, scout Kit Kirby leads seven soldiers departing from an abandoned outlaw camp where graves of fallen fighters lie grouped apart—the dead separated as enemies. They ride toward Fort Blank after two weeks waiting to ambush Muello's returning party, now convinced the outlaw band has dispersed. As they leave, a Pawnee scout called Red Soldier arrives, finding the camp empty. He positions himself among rocks, preparing to fight Muello's band alone, referencing past injuries from a bear encounter that Dashing Charlie previously saved him from.