Beadle's Dime Novels No. 238: Night-Hawk Kit

About this issue

Night-Hawk Kit; or, The Daughter of the Ranche by Jos. E. Badger Jr., published as Beadle's Dime Novels No. 289 (September 26, 1871). This Southwest romance follows Captain Kit, a young outlaw leader commanding a forty-man band, who assembles his gang in a timber motte along the Brazos River to intercept a Louisiana cattle drover carrying gold. Though some gang members recognize Kit's resemblance to Kirk Dalton, a herder from the region, Kit denies the connection. As sunset approaches and scouts spot the approaching horseman, Kit prepares his men for robbery. The drover—a weathered man named Uncle Josh, six feet tall and weighing over two hundred pounds—arrives on a jaded mustang and expresses surprise at encountering Kirk among such rough company. The text combines frontier dialect, descriptions of armed men and horses, and the setup for violent confrontation.