Texas Charlie's Wild Ride

This 1891 pulp weekly from Beadle and Adams presents "Texas Charlie's Wild Ride; or, The Boy Ranger," by Col. Prentiss Ingraham, author of Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill serials. The narrative follows fifteen-year-old Charles Bigelow, a Texas scout and Indian-fighter, fleeing Comanche warriors alongside his dying mentor, Old Hickory, who has suffered an arrow wound. Seeking refuge in a timber grove, Charlie constructs a small fortified position while Old Hickory weakens from blood loss. When a Comanche war party attacks from three directions, Charlie—the sole defender—skillfully wields rifles and revolvers, killing multiple warriors before Old Hickory dies from an arrow shaft to the neck. Charlie deduces the fatal shot came from a sniper positioned in a tree; he begins his counterattack by searching the branches for the hidden Comanche archer.