Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 656

About this issue

This issue of Beadle and Adams' weekly contains "Once More on the Trail," a companion story to "Butterfly Billy, the Pony Rider Detective" by Col. Prentiss Ingraham. Set on a Texas ranch, the narrative follows Ray Royal, a young ranchero of refined appearance who has abandoned his adventurous past as a government pony-rider and detective. An itinerant peddler named Joshua Ledbetter arrives at Ray's cabin, but Ray recognizes him as Yankee Kit, an outlaw spy who infiltrated settlements four years earlier for the bandit Captain Coyote. Ray captures Ledbetter and questions him extensively, learning that Yankee Kit is actually Sanchez, chief of the Mexican outlaw band the "Wolves." The captured criminal reveals he had spared Ray's life years ago out of gratitude, having been saved from hanging by the young hero. The discussion touches on various villains, including Sol Soule "the Giant General," a military deserter and road-agent.