Little Lariat, or Pecanarette's Big Rampage

This issue of Beadle and Adams dime novel (No. 404, April 1885) contains the serial "Little Lariat" by "Buckskin Sam" (Major Sam S. Hall). The protagonist Bert Benton, known as "Little Lariat," is a fair-haired young Texan of about eighteen who has become a Ranger spy and seeks vengeance for his father's death at the hands of Mexican outlaws. The narrative opens with Pecan Pete, a hardened scout, attempting to lynch a young Mexican captive despite protests from Nueces Ned, a more principled Ranger. Little Lariat arrives and saves the youth, revealing him to be white. This triggers a gunfight with pursuing Mexican bandits. The backstory details Little Lariat's family—his mother and sister Bertha—living on a vulnerable Rio Grande ranch, their circumstances reduced by bandit depredations.