Beadle's Pocket Library No. 139

The Black Giant; or, Dainty Lance in Jeopardy by Jos. E. Badger, Jr. A frontier adventure serial serialized in *Beadle and Adams* Weekly (1886). Chapter One opens with young trappers Lancelot "Dainty Lance" Daintree and Hardy Zeph traversing a snowy mountain pass when four assassins ambush them from above. Hardy Zeph saves Lance by forcing them both down a ravine, dodging rifle fire. While Hardy Zeph defends their position, a mysterious giant man clad in furs and possessing dark skin—described as "Hercules the negro giant"—arrives with a bow and club, systematically killing the assassins. He obeys commands from a small, golden-haired young woman called "Sibyl the snow sprite," dressed in white furs. She reveals that the criminal Dirk Weeninx and his gang of "cut-throats" have sworn to kill Dainty Lance and have scattered multiple parties hunting him throughout the region.