Throughout the length and breadth of the sun-bleached cow town of Mescal, Arizona, seethes an undercurrent of suppressed excitement. In front of the town's blacksmith shop a group of Mormon homesteaders gather about their potential leader, Webb Nichols, in grave discussion. In a lodge room the special meeting of the Magdalena Stockmen's Association, comprising the big cow outfits of the county, has turned into a deluge of hot words and very pointed accusations. Is the long conflict between the homesteaders and the big ...
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Throughout the length and breadth of the sun-bleached cow town of Mescal, Arizona, seethes an undercurrent of suppressed excitement. In front of the town's blacksmith shop a group of Mormon homesteaders gather about their potential leader, Webb Nichols, in grave discussion. In a lodge room the special meeting of the Magdalena Stockmen's Association, comprising the big cow outfits of the county, has turned into a deluge of hot words and very pointed accusations. Is the long conflict between the homesteaders and the big outfits about to flare into violence again? For years this particular part of Arizona has been a rustler's paradise. And as long as homesteaders like Webb Nichols and Shad Caney cover up for the rustlers, the notorious Steve Jennings among them, they're asking for trouble from the big cattlemen. The Association decides to bring matters to a head by calling in Clay Roberts, a lone wolfer stock-detective with a reputation for getting results. "It don't seem like one man could make much hell for us, '' says Webb Nichols, but in that thought Webb, as he is soon to discover, couldn't be more wrong. Clay Roberts has a couple of strikes on him from the beginning in Deputy Sheriff Dufors, a weak and embittered tool of the homesteaders, and in Webb and Shad, whose bitter, unreasoning feud is carried on by their children during school hours. These youthful hatreds make life miserable for the pretty new teacher, Eudora Stoddard, who is startled one day to find herself sheltering the head of the rustlers, Steve Jennings. From then on matters get tougher by the minute. Men who should be seeing eye to eye regard one another with cold hostility, the grisly episode at Parley Scott's takes place, the rustlers move in on one of the big cowmen and Clay heads for the hills in deadly pursuit, only to find himself forced to save the life of the dangerous rustler he is hired to capture. And that is only the beginning of new trouble for the fearless stock-detective, the cattlemen, and pretty Eudora Stoddard, whom Clay had hoped to make his wife.
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The printing of this book I have in my hand is much older than the one here for sale. Mine is a Dell western with a map on the back cover--quite a popular thing Dell did during the 1940's and early 50's. And the setting of this book is the Utah/Arizona/Nevada region of the west, north and west of the Grand Canyon. The story is about a stock detective, Clay Roberts, and his investigation of rustling activities headed by Steve Jennings, who knew Roberts previously when Steve was an honest fellow. Eudora Stoddard, a pretty red head Easterner school teacher, finds things not so pleasant as the children she is teaching carry on the feud of their parents. The remaining cast of characters is large and diverse. But don't let that dissuade you, nor the three primary characters who make this sound like a retelling of The Virginian by Owen Wister; it's not, I assure you. Bliss Lomax can tell a story with the best of them, and does so with this book. It is 'traditional' western fare when westerns were appreciated for what they were--good entertainment, and filled with nostalgic reverie. A good book to own and have.
