Old Hard Head; or, Whirlwind and His Milk-White Mare

This issue of Beadle's Dime Novels (Vol. XVI, No. 207, October 11, 1882) features "Old Hard Head; or, Whirlwind and His Milk-White Mare" by Philip S. Warne, a frontier adventure tale set in the Kioway country. The narrative opens with a young Indian princess named Waving Plume hunting on a mountain ledge when a cinnamon bear attacks. A Delaware youth called Whirlwind intervenes, battling the bear heroically. Despite saving her life, Waving Plume recoils upon learning he is Delaware—her tribe's rival. She names him Whirlwind as reward for his valor and crafts him a bear-claw necklace. Meanwhile, a jealous Kioway brave watches from above, preparing to shoot. The second chapter shifts to Chihuahua, Mexico, introducing Santa Fe Bob, a contemptuous American frontiersman who enters a Mexican town with aggressive bravado, bullying locals and seeking a man called Sam, the Sockdoliger. Bob rouses Sam from drunken sleep, dousing him with water before they fight.