Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 621

About this issue

By Arthur C. Grissom, this Western romance serializes the adventures of Bud Bright, a slight but determined youth who has come to the mining town of Magic City on a secret mission. In Chapter I, Bud catches the notorious outlaw Dan Fury—a one-eyed desperado—burglarizing his cabin at midnight, trapping him with revolver drawn from a loft. Fury seeks a mysterious paper Bud guards closely. Bud discovers Fury knows his true name, Willis, alarming him. That same night, another threat arrives: Cool Caleb, apparently an old enemy from Bud's past, rides into camp on the Leadville trail. Chapter II introduces Magic City itself: a rough mining town of saloons and gamblers, where only one unmarried woman lives—the fifteen-year-old daughter of Denton, an apparent fugitive from Eastern law. That evening, an eccentric stranger in animal skins visits the Dentons' cabin, calling himself "pecooliar" and making informal conversation before a storm traps him inside.