The Phantom Tracker

The Phantom Tracker; or, The Prisoner of the Hill Cave By Frederick Dewey, this Western adventure serial opens along Arizona's Gila River. Pedro Felipe, a forty-year-old Mexican scout and servant, pursues a hidden treasure in a remote, allegedly haunted region called the Land of Silence. A year prior, he rescued his master's daughter from bandits, killing a robber lieutenant called "the Trailer" and acquiring his ornate weapons. Now greed drives Pedro northward to locate the treasure he believes remains buried in a hollow hill. Meanwhile, an armed stranger—described as an ugly desperado—follows Pedro into the desert. The narrative then shifts to Joel Wheeler, a disillusioned American emigrant from New York returning home via Mexico with three wagons, servants, and his eighteen-year-old daughter, a brunette of improved health from her Mexican residence. The wagon train approaches the Gila to cross northward. The convergence of these three parties in the wilderness sets the stage for conflict.