Beadle's Pocket Library No. 273

The Girl Rider; Nimble Ned's Surprise By Joseph E. Badger, Jr., this serialized frontier romance opens with hunters camped on the Texas plains debating the existence of a mysterious female rider. Fred Hawksley describes his encounter with a beautiful brunette woman wearing fringed deerskin and eagle-feathers, armed with a rifle, who challenged him to a chase and vanished. When the Girl Rider suddenly appears at their bivouac, Hawksley pursues her on horseback while companions follow. After crossing terrain that obscures their tracks, the hunters lose sight of all three riders, discovering only a solitary horseman standing inexplicably on the empty prairie. Concurrently, a secret gathering of armed white men congregates at a timber island for what is called a "Lottery of Death"—an apparently sinister drawing with unknown stakes. Captain Jap Morton directs the assembly, warning associates to watch a man named Colton closely.