Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 538

The Treacherous Two: A Romance of the Ring This serialized dime novel by George C. Jenks, author of "The Drummer Detective" and other works, opens at a circus tent in Detroit where ringmaster Sol Fixer conducts brutal morning rehearsals. The narrative centers on young Tim, a bareback acrobat on a white horse, performing difficult somersault routines through hoops while Bud Buddicombe, the drummer, keeps time. After Tim falls during a double-somerset attempt, a well-dressed Mexican stranger enters the tent, ostensibly to help, but attempts to stab the unconscious boy. Bud intervenes with his drumstick, dislodging the attacker's dirk knife. A nobbly-dressed young man then appears, effortlessly overpowering the Mexican, disarming him, and warning him away from the circus. The episode establishes a mystery involving threats against the boy and introduces what appears to be a protective figure, though the narrative remains incomplete in this excerpt.