Beadle's Pocket Library No. 319

# Frisky Frank in Idaho; or, Old Skinflint, the Shadow

This serial by Roger Starbuck, beginning in volume XXV, no. 319, combines frontier action with romantic drama. The narrative follows Bell Danton, a sixteen-year-old girl who arrives in Idaho Territory with her father, a salmon factory proprietor. When their coach is ambushed by robbers transporting gold dust, they are rescued by Frank Belton, a nineteen-year-old hunter nicknamed "Fireheels" after escaping through burning brush set by Snake Indians.

Bell's father later forbids Belton's visits after hearing false accusations that the young man boasted of marrying an heiress for money. The accusations originate from Luke Lorne, a rough, property-owning settler whom Bell suspects was one of the original coach robbers based on his facial features. When Belton confronts Lorne and forces him to admit the lie through physical combat, Lorne departs threatening revenge. The installment ends as Bell, walking in a valley, narrowly escapes a rattlesnake attack.