Max Brand

Doc Byrne left the big city and headed west, but once he encountered Jerry Strann, Dan Barry, and Joe Cumberland, there would be plenty of work for him before the Night Horseman rode away.

"In three Western stories, misunderstood men find the chance to prove themselves"--

"Peter Dunstan is a big rancher who wants to control more land. When he buys Dr. Henry Morgan's ranchland that had been unsuccessfully converted to farming? it is Dunstan's intention to return it to open range. The only stipulation Morgan makes is that Dunstan must retain Sandy Sweyn? who has more or less been Dr. Morgan's ward? although the man is of age. Sweyn is generally considered to be a half-wit? even by the doctor. Yet Sandy has a fabulous...

Elizabeth Cornish raises the infant son of outlaw Black Jack Hollis as her own, building up the legend of the Colby name, making the boy, Terry, believe he is descended from aristocracy. Then Elizabeth makes it known that Terry will inherit the family ranch on his twenty-fifth birthday, not her ne'er-do-well brother, Vance. As the celebration nears, Vance decides that he must make Terry aware of his outlaw heritage, and who better to set the record...

After Andrew Lanning's father dies, his Uncle Jasper takes him under his wing and raises him for the next fifteen years. Jasper wants his nephew to be the kind of man who rightly belongs to the Lanning clan: good with horses, and even better with guns. But the results prove disappointing-Andrew becomes the town's mild-mannered blacksmith. However, something soon happens that changes all that in a single day. When the belligerent Buck Heath confronts...

"When Jingo decides to court a judge's daughter, he finds almost everyone out to stop him--the judge, the hopeful suitor, and the brother of the man he shot over a card game"--

This fast-paced story is about a tough rebel named Destry who is sent to prison for years, serving time for a crime he did not commit. Once out, he aims to seek revenge on the 12 jury members who sent him to prison. However, his mission isn't to kill but to find other unique ways as punishment...

"Found among a group of unpublished works by Frederick Faust, these two Western stories both deal with cowardice. In "Traynor" the title character is believed to be a weak young man, having let Dr. Parker Channing steal his love, Rose Laymon, away from him. When the stage Traynor is driving into Little Snake is robbed and Traynor's best friend and stage guard, Sam Whitney, is killed by the robber, Traynor chases the thief and recovers his dropped...

"When well-to-do Southerner Charles Granville saves Sam Cross from a fatal stabbing and notices they bear a striking resemblance to each other, he convinces Sam to pose as Granville whenever he asks--an agreement that just might get Sam killed"--

When Andrew Apperley visits his brother David in the East, he brings along an unexpected companion. Andrew's giant wolf dog, Comanche, is so wild that he has to be chained up for the safety of others. However, when the Apperley brothers come across a man drowning in the East River, Comanche breaks loose from his chains and swims to the man's rescue. In fact, this man, Single Jack Deems, is a convict who has just escaped from Blackwell's Island. Deems...