launched the Diamond Dick series in 1889 in the Nugget Library and is here reprinted from its later appearance in the Diamond Dick, Jr. series (no. 104, October 8, 1898). The plot is filled with melodrama and elements that are typical of many dime novels: a hero with a mysterious background and nearly superhuman powers, the eternal battle of good versus evil, a tragic love story with the loss of a loved one, and an ending that promises more to come as the hero sets out on a trail of vengeance. The Diamond Dick stories were set in the contemporary West so that as times and modes of transportation changed, the stories kept pace. The series that began in 1889 ended in 1911 with automobiles and balloons alongside horses. Besides the two Diamond Dicks (father and son), the cast of characters includes Billy Doo, the tough Chicago kid; Belle Bellair, described as Diamond Dick, Jr."girl pard"; and Jack Sinn, gambler, gunman, and recurring villain. The heroes roam the Wild West and the frozen North, as well as Central and South America.