Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 193

Captain Mask: The Lady Road-Agent This serialized adventure by Philip S. Warne concerns the exploits of Captain Mask, a mysterious road-agent leader operating in the Colorado-California mining country. The narrative opens with a harrowing night ambush on a stagecoach during a violent storm. An unidentified passenger—revealed to be Bob Bolton, Alameda's sheriff—single-handedly repels the bandits through superior marksmanship and strength, killing three. Bolton protects a young couple traveling to Golden Gulch: newlywed Alf Cheswick, barely twenty, and his seventeen-year-old bride Claire. A passenger is killed in the assault. In Golden Gulch, the beautiful girl generates local interest. Complications emerge when a mysterious elderly visitor warns the young couple of unnamed dangers, suggesting romantic or criminal threats to their safety. The narrative establishes conflict between Captain Mask's gang and Bolton, while foreshadowing trouble for the vulnerable newlyweds through the appearance of Colonel Despard Dangerfield, a passionate, unscrupulous former admirer of Claire.