Beadle's Pocket Library No. 481: Mustang Rider Roy

This issue of Beadle and Adams (No. 481, March 29, 1893) features "Mustang Rider Roy: The Brigands of Texas" by Albert W. Aiken. The opening serialized story follows Lieutenant Philip Wenie of the U.S. Army, stationed at Tacos on the Rio Grande frontier. While hunting, Wenie becomes trapped in quicksand and is rescued by Juanita Torres, a beautiful Mexican-American girl riding a cream-colored mustang, who uses her lasso to save him. The two quickly form a romantic connection. The narrative then shifts to explain that a cavalry company has been posted to Tacos to combat the "Brigands of the Prairie"—a organized band of approximately thirty cross-border rustlers and thieves operating between Mexico and Texas, reportedly aided by confederates of wealth and standing. The soldiers' mission is to apprehend these outlaws.