Mountain Gid, Free Ranger

This is the first chapter of "Mountain Gid, the Free Ranger; or, the Bandit's Daughter" by W. J. Hamilton, published by Beadle and Adams in 1870. The story opens in the Saskatchewan mountain region where a solitary trapper observes a masked band of thirteen men conducting what appears to be an execution. A young prisoner with feminine features, named Brian, is bound to his horse while the band's captain interrogates him about violating the brotherhood's code of secrecy. When the captain strikes the helpless prisoner, one band member named Ned protests on grounds of fair play, temporarily protecting Brian from further abuse. The captain prepares to formally accuse Brian before the assembled masked men, suggesting an imminent death sentence. The hidden trapper resolves to intervene to save the prisoner's life.