The Silent Rifleman: A Tale of the Texan Plains

This issue of *Beadle & Adams' dime novel weekly contains the opening installment of "The Silent Rifleman: A Tale of the Texan Plains" by Henry W. Herbert. Chapter I introduces a solitary, well-armed horseman traversing the arid terrain between the Nueces and Bravo rivers in September. The man is spare-framed with long arms, dressed in fringed buckskin, heavily equipped with rifle, sword, knife, pistols, and tomahawk. His dark-brown thoroughbred bears scars from past combat. Searching for water, he reaches a verdant forest sheltering a clear river, where he tends his horse with careful precision, prepares venison for supper, and arranges weapons within arm's reach for sleeping. His refined tastes—fine wine, biscuits, opera humming—suggest cultivated origins incongruous with frontier life. As evening falls, his horse's alert behavior warns of approaching danger; detecting eight riders via ground vibrations, the protagonist quickly saddles up, prepared for confrontation though outnumbered.