Red Spur Ralph, the Texan

This issue of *Beadle and Adams'* weekly contains the opening chapters of "Red Spur Ralph, the Texan; or, The Young Mustangers" by C. Dunning Clark, an adventure tale set on the Texas border. Captain Dick Merry leads a party of twenty-five young mustangers camped on the western Texas prairie. When the Irish-accented Garryowen spots a hunted man fleeing Mexicans, Merry orders his boys to ambush the pursuers. The fugitive, a hardened border hunter, joins forces with them after the rangers rout the Mexican horsemen in combat. The hunter introduces himself as Rainbow Rube, a famous Rio Grande tracker and mustanger, who agrees to join Merry's outfit after being saved from certain death. A dispute arises over how to handle captured Mexicans: Rube advocates scalping; Merry prefers running them through a lariat gauntlet as punishment and warning. Rube particularly wants vengeance on Gil Perez, whom he identifies as lieutenant to the gang leader Odo Velasquez, before the chapter ends with Perez being brought forward for punishment.