1927. Several generations ago, the man with the impressive name of Henry James O'Brien Bedford-Jones (known to readers of the woodpulp story magazines as H. Bedford-Jones, Gordon Keyne, and by at least another sixteen pen-names) was called the King of the Pulps. He was also an avid reader and collector of books on history and military strategy, but his historical novels were the products of his own limitless imagination. The Black Bull begins: A coach, headed for Pisa, had broken down at the very fork of the highway. A signboard showed that the other road, less traveled, left the post-road here for Corthia, a league distant, hidden by hills between. The traveler who came riding along on the magnificent white Arab was apparently headed for Pisa likewise.