Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 555

"The Rivals of Rack-about Range" by Joseph E. Badger, Jr. This installment opens with Rex Pollard, a rancher with a mutilated left hand, ambushed by three criminals on Rack-about Range. Tick Slater, a red-haired ruffian, Dan West, and Bark Adams attack from the tall grass with lassos, dragging Pollard from his horse and binding him. Slater reveals personal animosity—he too is missing a thumb—suggesting previous violence between them. When questioned about his motives, Slater mentions profit and speculation. He forces Pollard into his saddle with rope binding his ankle beneath the horse's belly, then rides eastward into gathering darkness with his captive flanked by guards. Pollard recognizes Slater and realizes he should have heeded his horse's earlier warnings. The chapter ends as the gang rides across the prairie unseen, with unclear intentions toward their prisoner beyond vague references to an unspecified fate.