Beadle's Dime Library No. 638

North-land Nick's Guardianship This issue presents "North-land Nick's Guardianship: A Story of the Jacob's Ladder," by W. H. Manning, author of several frontier tales. The serial opens with Chapter I, "The Fatal Beacon-Light," set in the mining town of Jacob's Ladder in Wyoming. Partners Lemuel Holly and Francis Holbrook discover a rich gold vein in their previously unprofitable Bald Eagle Mine. While Holly rejoices, Holbrook seethes with jealousy—he harbors an obsessive, unrequited passion for Holly's wife, Milly, to whom he has secretly loaned money. When Holly announces plans to move Milly to Denver after profiting from the gold strike, Holbrook's rage overwhelms him. Standing at a precipice overlooking Babel Run, he murders Holly by pushing him over the cliff. Chapter II, "The Testimony of Babel Run," follows Holbrook's immediate aftermath—his terror, then exultation as he realizes Milly is now a widow and his debtor. The text breaks as Mrs. Holly arrives at his door the next morning.