Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 444

About this issue

This issue contains the opening of "Little Buckskin, the Border Sleuth," a frontier adventure serial by the author of "Shanghai and other works (specific titles OCR-damaged). Set in the Rocky Mountain foothills near Panther Creek, the story follows Phil Barker, known as "Little Buckskin"—an eighteen-year-old hunter and trapper dressed in buckskin who escapes a band of Cheyenne Indians pursuing him across the plains. Fleeing alone, he discovers four young Eastern amateur hunters encamped: Robert Malvern, Deck Robbins, Clark Lewis, and Fred Lawrence. Buckskin rallies them to fight off the Indians with a coordinated rifle volley, repelling the attackers. The narrative reveals Malvern's backstory: a Northern gentleman who wooed a Kentucky planter's daughter, Augusta Darre, but was violently rejected by her father and rival suitor Paul Dumont two years prior. Seeking distraction, Malvern came West with his companions specifically to hire Buckskin as their guide. The opening chapter concludes with shocking danger as they enter Buckskin's cabin—six Cheyenne warriors suddenly surround them.