Beadle's Pocket Library, Vol. II, No. 14

# Wild Ivan, the Boy Claude Duval

This installment of the weekly serial by Edward L. Wheeler opens during a violent autumnal storm in the Black Hills. Colonel Bill Blood, leader of the outlaw "Brotherhood of Death," arrives at a mountain camp carrying a captive: Alice La Rue, a seventeen-year-old girl whose father Red Kit stole treasure from Blood's organization. Blood orders his men to torture her for the treasure's location, beginning with severing her finger. When she refuses to reveal it, he commands amputation of her foot. As Blue Bob raises his knife, a lightning bolt strikes Blood dead, sweeping his corpse into the swollen stream. A mysterious youth in hunter's garb appears in the firelight, declaring this "God's Hand" vengeance. The dramatic cliffhanger leaves the outlaw band confronting the newcomer.