Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 97

This issue of the pulp weekly presents "Bronze Jack: The California Thoroughbred; or, The Lost City of the Basaltic Buttes," by Albert W. Aiken, a western adventure serial set in 1851 Arizona. The narrative opens in Big Walnut Camp, a mining settlement near Apache territory, where gold prospectors operate despite constant danger from Apache warriors, particularly Chief Manga Colorado. Five armed strangers arrive seeking passage to the legendary Basaltic Buttes region. The party's leader, introducing himself as "Jack," encounters John Mustang, chief of the mysterious "Red Gold-Hunters"—three half-breed prospectors living in a cave dwelling. Mustang, described as effeminate and slender but masterful, boasts of his deadly companions: Pedro Cobeza "the Strangler" and Michael Saltado "the Knife." Jack dismisses their threats with cool contempt, preparing to venture into territory controlled by Manga Colorado's five thousand warriors. Mustang warns of supernatural dangers—ghostly fires and phantom warriors haunting the buttes at night—which Jack dismisses as children's tales.