Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1074

This issue of Beadle and Adams (No. 107, February 22, 1898) contains "Mustang Merle's Mandate: Wiping Out the War Saddles," a western serial by Major Sam S. Scott. The story unfolds along the Rio Tagus, where the bandit Prince Pedro leads his outlaw band, the War Saddles, on a midnight raid against a travelers' camp. Pedro seeks a beautiful girl rumored to be with the group, but she has disappeared. Finding only two men—Abner Nevins and young Larry Blair—Pedro subjects them to a "Mazeppa" torture (lashing them to wild horses) after burning the wagons. Meanwhile, the missing girl, Nelly Nevins, has sleepwalked away from camp and is discovered by Joe Bundy, a frontier character, and his companion Red Hawk, a young Apache. Learning the camp has been destroyed, Nelly resolves to aid in pursuing Prince Pedro's gang.