The summer warpath began in late spring 1876 and was one laid out under the command of General George Crook, perhaps the most experienced Indian fighter in the United States Army at that time. Among other officers under Crook's command was the daring and resourceful Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry. The purpose of the campaign was to round up the wild tribes of the Cheyennes and Sioux and place them on reservations.Walt Staley is a drifter, a man who works only long enough so he can get enough money to be traveling again. He rides for Fort Laramie, where he successfully enlists as an Army scout under General Crook.Before Staley arrives at the fort, he is forced by roving Indians to stop at an Army hay camp, where he meets Dave Allison. The two become friends, especially after Allison is transferred to active service under General Crook.Finally, there is Patrick O'Hara, who considers himself the ace reporter at the Chicago Herald. He wants...

In the title story, Murdo Morgan left Paradise Valley sixteen years ago, after his brothers had been killed at the hand of the Turkey Track outfit. One year later, his father died a broken and defeated man. Broad Clancy, owner of the Turkey Track, has remained the controlling force in this area of high desert in Oregon, considering all the land to be open range, including the six-mile strip on both sides of the old wagon road which belongs to Cascade and Paradise Land Company. He fears that Morgan will return to exact his revenge for the death of his brothers. But Morgan is not driven by revenge but by a desire to carry out the dream of his father—to settle a thousand farming families in Paradise Valley. To that end, as the owner of the Cascade and Paradise Land Company, Morgan arrives with a plan for the sale of the land already under way and he is willing to risk his life and every cent of money he has to do it, despite the backlash he will receive from the Clancy...

From a three-time Spur Award–winner comes the tale of an orphaned boy who is forced to become a man.Mark Kelton is eighteen years old—part boy, part man. On the trail to set up a ranch in eastern Oregon, his parents are killed by an unknown assailant and their strongbox containing $8,000 is stolen.Mark heads out onto the empty plain where he encounters Bronco Curtis, a man who knows what he wants, and Curtis befriends the young orphan. When Curtis was Mark's age, an older man had done the same for him. Under Curtis's tutelage, Mark becomes a hardened rider and an experienced cowboy, capable in the use of firearms. In Ten Mile Valley, Curtis purchases a small cattle ranch and appoints Mark as his partner, even though Mark is destitute.Even so, always at the back of Mark's mind is the knowledge that, somewhere on the plains, the murderer of his parents still rides free. Mark is convinced that he cannot truly become a man until he finds that...

It was while Neal Clark was in the gunsmith's shop that the Shelly gang attempted to hold up the bank. Neal rushed out of the shop with his rifle, took aim, and fired, repeatedly, killing Buck Shelly and his son Luke Shelly. He may also have wounded Ed Shelly, a teenage boy, who was holding the horses. Ed Shelly made good his escape, but was believed to be mortally wounded. That's what Neal thought until he received a letter from Ed Shelly, declaring that he would be back someday to settle the score.Eight years later, Neal is married with a young daughter and has taken over the town bank. Cascade City is in the midst of a crisis brought about by Ben Darley and Tuck Shelton, promoters of an irrigation project that is an obvious scam, though it isn't obvious to most people in town or the surrounding ranching community. There is even talk of lynching Neal for his adamant rejection of investment in the project. It is at this point that the letters from Ed Shelly start coming...

Central Oregon—the last frontier. Transportation is still by stagecoach and freight wagon. There is a movement afoot for a people's railroad, paid for by the state, to bring the benefits of rails to the area, to make it easier to ship livestock and produce, and to encourage settlement. For years the competing railroad barons, James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman, have done nothing toward building a line in central Oregon, but now, under the impetus of the people's railroad bill, they both set out to do just that.Lee Dawes, a front man buying rights-of-way for the Hill interests, is charged with besting Mike Quinn, who is acquiring rights-of-way for the Harriman line. Dawes and Quinn have competed in this kind of work for years, as they have competed for women. An essential property on the way to Bend is owned by Hanna Racine, and both Dawes and Quinn want the right-of-way across her land. The two vie to come up with a strategy to seduce her into committing to the...