Louis L'Amour
Louis L'Amour said the West was no place for the frightened or the mean. It was a "big country needing big men and women to live in it." The two stories in this collection provide a good sample of the kinds of people he had in mind.
"Ride, You Tonto Raiders"
Matt Sabre is a young and experienced gunfighter—but not a trouble seeker. However, when Billy Curtin calls him a liar and goes for his gun, Matt has no choice but to draw
...Sackett
A drifter by circumstance, William Tell Sackett hungered for a place he couldn’t name but knew he had to find. South of the Tetons, through a keyhole pass, he found it: a lonely yet beautiful valley—with a fortune...
8) Big Medicine
A short novel and three stories, restored to their original magazine versions.
Louis L'Amour said that the West was no place for the frightened or the mean. It was a "big country needing big men and women to live in it." Here are three more of his fine short stories about the West.
West of the Tularosa Ruth Kermitt, owner of the Tumbling K ranch, made a deal with old Tom McCracken, owner of the Firebox spread, to buy his ranch. That's why the Tumbling K's foreman, Ward McQueen, and some of the Tumbling K crew have come
...Two men in the isolated town of Tucker want the XY ranch—Jim Walker and the ruthless Wing Cary—and one of them wants it badly enough to kill for it.
The Black Rock Coffin Makers is a tale of suspense and danger, with chases, shootouts, double-crosses and posses, all for possession of the XY ranch.
Tack Gentry has been away for a year when he returns to the familiar buildings of his uncle John Gentry’s G Bar ranch. To his amazement, the ranch has a new owner, who is unimpressed when Tack explains that his uncle was a Quaker, didn’t believe in violence, and never carried a gun. His advice to Tack is to make tracks. But Tack has other plans.
The Marshal of Sentinel
Tough and vicious, the Fred Henry...
In the midst of a lively country dance, gunshots ring out at the stagecoach station and Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie finds the station's master sprawled in a pool of his own blood....
These two tales set in the wild desert wastes pit the forces of fierce nature against the sturdy character of the Western man.
"Law of the Desert"
Shad Marone is a lone gunman on the run from the law. He shot a man in a fair fight, but the sheriff is his bitter enemy and Shad knows he'll never get a fair trial. He is being tracked by a man named Lopez, and after three days in the desert it looks like they'll both die of thirst—unless,
...18) Unguarded Moment
19) Man Riding West
When Miguel Merrano first came to Mirror Valley, the land was green and lush . . . and off limits to Mexicans. Ranchers such as Tom Drake and Joe Stangle tried to drive Merrano out, to fence him out; and when we warned them that greed and overgrazing would ruin their land, they refused to listen.
Now Merrano's predictions have come true. Mirror Valley is so dry it's about to blow away. The cattle are hollow-ribbed...