Mustang Merle's Mine; or, Dolores Dick and Pard

Catalog Note: Mustang Merle's Mine This serialized western by Major Sam S. Scott follows the adventures at a contested mining operation in Texas. The narrative opens with Joe Bundy, an aging ranch hand, tracking a mysterious trail across the prairie at night and encountering a masked gunman who warns him that Mustang Merle's mine will be claimed by its true owner. The masked figure—possibly the character Dolores Dick—holds Joe at Winchester-point and threatens a coming storm of violence. Joe discovers what appears to be a corpse dragged behind the masked man's horse. Returning to the ranch, Joe reports the encounter to seventeen-year-old Mustang Merle, the mine's owner, who realizes they face a serious threat from an unknown claimant. The story involves conflicts over mining rights, border violence, and an earlier struggle against the outlaw Captain Cussed. The narrative emphasizes frontier justice and property disputes resolved through confrontation.