Beadle's Pocket Library No. 210

Reckless Ralph, the Road-Agent: A Tale of the California Placers This serialized adventure by Jos. E. Badger, Jr., unfolds across multiple settings and timeframes. It opens dramatically with a devastating fire in New Orleans, where a heroic stranger rescues a beautiful young girl from a burning tenement building, sustaining fatal injuries in the process. On his deathbed, the mysterious man marries the girl—Miranda—and bequeaths her his entire fortune. The narrative then shifts to a remote California mining camp, where Miranda and a man in buckskin sit in silent vigil beside a Bible and crucifix, both apparently dead. Finally, the story transitions to "Celestial City," a mining town in California, where a stage driver recommends lodging at the Spread Eagle, noted for its "curtiest landlady" and "ugliest hunchback landlord."