Little Lariat, or Pecanarette's Big Rampage

This issue of *Beadle and Adams* dime novel (No. 404, April 1885) contains the serial "Little Lariat" by "Buckskin Sam" (Major Sam S. Hall). The protagonist Bert Benton, known as "Little Lariat," is a fair-haired young Texan of about eighteen who has become a Ranger spy and seeks vengeance for his father's death at the hands of Mexican outlaws. The narrative opens with Pecan Pete, a hardened scout, attempting to lynch a young Mexican captive despite protests from Nueces Ned, a more principled Ranger. Little Lariat arrives and saves the youth, revealing him to be white. This triggers a gunfight with pursuing Mexican bandits. The backstory details Little Lariat's family—his mother and sister Bertha—living on a vulnerable Rio Grande ranch, their circumstances reduced by bandit depredations.