Beadle's Dime Library No. 666

The Hummer from Hummingbird

This issue contains the beginning of "The Hummer from Hummingbird" by Lieutenant A. K. Sims, a mining-camp adventure story set in the rival silver-mining towns of Hummingbird and Cuckoo. The protagonist, Hike Hartsook—a small, blonde man with an affected manner of speech—arrives in Cuckoo wearing a distinctive cuckoo-winged hat and delivers a rousing speech at the saloon The Cuckoo's Nest, persuading the townspeople that Cuckoo surpasses Hummingbird. He treats the crowd to drinks, establishing himself as a charismatic leader. His arrival is interrupted when the intoxicated ex-cowboy Lariat Bill attempts to rope him for comic effect. Hartsook responds by cutting the rope with his knife and throwing his revolver at Bill, striking him down. Bill recovers and approaches the saloon armed for confrontation, only to find Hartsook has already drawn his weapon.