Beadle's Pocket Library No. 91

This 1885 Beadle and Adams dime novel features "Mustang Sam, the King of the Plains," a western frontier story by Joseph E. Badger Jr. (author of "Yellowstone Jack" and "Hurricane Bill"). The narrative centers on Mustang Sam, a skilled plainsman who captures a magnificent black stallion—the wild king of a mustang herd—with his lasso and trained horse Comanche. After an intense, action-packed struggle where Sam demonstrates extraordinary horsemanship, subduing the savage stallion through rope work and the quirt, he rides the untamed animal at breakneck speed across the desert landscape. Riding toward high rocky outcrops near the San Juan region, Sam unexpectedly encounters a mounted contingent of Apache warriors who block his path. The stallion, driven mad by pain and fear, carries Sam directly into the Apache ranks. The warriors, confused by the dust and commotion, initially mistake him for an enemy war chief and part before him.