Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 197

This 1881 Beadle and Adams dime novel serial, "Little Grit, the Wild Rider; or, Bessie, the Stock-Tender's Daughter," by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, is a Western adventure romance set during the Pony Express era. The young protagonist, Little Grit—a seventeen-year-old mail rider mounted on his black horse Firefly—rescues Bessie, a sixteen-year-old girl, from two ruffians pursuing her across the prairie. When a band of outlaws led by the Boy Bandit (Captain Firebrand, age fifteen) pursues them, Little Grit deposits Bessie on Firefly and dismounts at the Red Ravine. The narrative follows their flight across moonlit plains, with escalating combat and narrow escapes. The serial emphasizes action, horsemanship, and romantic tension between the youthful protagonists amid frontier violence and banditry.