Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 617

This issue of *Beadle and Adams*, dated May 2, 1889, presents "The Raiders and Red Riders of the Rio" by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, featuring Ralph, "the Death-Shot Scout." The narrative follows a prairie fire sequence where the scout systematically harries a bandit band led by Don Ramon with rifle shots. When lightning ignites the prairie grass, the scout—astride his blood-bay mustang Comanche—flees alongside buffalo, deer, and wild animals toward timber safety. Pursued by outlaws, he dramatically leaps a thirty-foot ravine on horseback to escape. The scout then reaches Clear Water Stockade, where Colonel Linville briefs him: his daughter Kate, originally delayed by Indian attacks on a wagon train, is traveling under cavalry escort with Lieutenant Merwin and four troopers, coinciding dangerously with both Comanche activity and Don Ramon's movements.