Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1143

1903 · 16 pages

Catalog Note *Old Rattlesnake, the Charmer: A Rocky Mountain Romance* by Philip S. Warne begins in Virginia City with a gambling confrontation. Arthur Hamilton, a newcomer, challenges the professional gambler Patent-leather Joe to a high-stakes game of chuck-a-luck, employing a mathematical betting strategy that guarantees his eventual victory. When Joe refuses to honor their written agreement, the seventeen-year-old miner Flash Lightning intervenes with drawn pistol, forcing Joe's compliance. Hamilton graciously offers the gambler restitution and partnership with Flash Lightning. In a parallel narrative, Joe visits Berenice Granger, a beautiful young woman hidden in a secluded valley, treating her with newfound passionate intensity that unsettles her. Her aunt Sue grieves a mysterious past wrong that Joe apparently committed, pleading for reconciliation. The serial weaves threads of revenge, romance, and frontier justice across its opening chapters.

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