Beadle's Dime Library No. 688

Beadle's Half-Dime Library No. 68: "The River Rustlers; or, The Detective from 'Way-Back" This Western adventure serial by Lieutenant A. K. Sims concerns El Espada (actually American outlaw Peel Skinner), a bandit leader terrorizing ranches along the Rio Grande near the Mexican town of Carmencita. After a Mexican police parade, American mining engineer William Wentworth secures a lieutenant's commission for young rancher Giles Jessup, who seeks to capture the rustler responsible for his cattle losses. Warned that rival officer Dominique Gervase resents Jessup's appointment, the American joins a thirty-man police expedition into the mountains. They discover fresh horse tracks but face dwindling morale when Captain Roderigo claims illness and threatens to withdraw half the force. Jessup confronts Gervase, suspecting him of deliberately undermining the mission through fear-mongering among the troops, as the trail grows dim and panic spreads through the command.