Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 163

About this issue

Little Texas, the Young Mustanger, a Western serial by Oll Coombs, comprises the featured story in this issue. The narrative opens with a frantic chase across a Texas prairie: a young boy—Little Texas—pursues an old man fleeing from Apache warriors. The boy catches the fugitive, identifying himself as the notorious mustanger and explaining he escaped from the Indians. The old man, Bill Morality, a gruff plainsman of fifty, reveals he has stolen horses back from the Apaches and takes an immediate liking to the boy. The two riders journey together, watering their horses at a creek before camping in a timber grove. Through conversation, Little Texas recounts his recent capture by Black Boniface, a villain leading regulators in the San Sabá valley. Texas describes catching a legendary buck-skin mustang after a twenty-five-mile chase, only to be surrounded by Boniface's gang. Though he emptied three saddles with gunfire, he was overpowered and taken captive, subjected to interrogation about ranches and physical abuse before escaping. The narrative emphasizes horsemanship, frontier combat, and pursuit across open prairie landscape.