The Man of Silk

# "Little Puss, the Pride of Posey's Pocket"

This serialized novel by Jos. E. Badger Jr. is a Western adventure-crime tale set on a stagecoach route. The story opens with a dramatic holdup: masked road-agents led by a mounted chief ambush a stage carrying three passengers—elderly Darius Aymer, his young wife Adine, and a man named Bush Clark—plus driver Hungry Derrick. The outlaw chief shoots Derrick's wheel-horse, then systematically robs the passengers at gunpoint. The narrative develops tension around Adine's pleas for mercy and Darius's emotional responses to the theft. A crucial revelation emerges when Darius addresses the masked chief as his son, causing visible shock. The outlaw extracts money from both Clark and Aymer while Adine desperately tries to protect her husband. The excerpt ends mid-scene as the chief confronts Darius about the family connection claim.