Beadle's Dime Library No. 895

This issue of *Buffalo Bill's Weekly* (No. 890, December 1895) features the beginning of "Buffalo Bill's Secret Ally" by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham. The story follows Mortimer Bainbridge, a mysterious planter from Mississippi who establishes the remote Overlook Ranch on the Texas frontier with his loyal former slaves. Years earlier, Mortimer was falsely accused of murder and robbery; his brother Branch was the actual criminal. Exonerated when the true culprit confessed in prison, Mortimer inherited his grandmother's plantation and retreated to Texas. When Branch appears at the ranch seeking forgiveness, Mortimer reluctantly welcomes him. The narrative then introduces a band of outlaws plotting to raid a nearby ranch while its cowboys are away dealing with stampeded cattle, promising action and frontier conflict ahead.