Most folks would call Kim Sartain an easygoing, peace-loving man. But the few who crossed the young drifter knew there was nothing he liked better than a good fight. When cattleman Jim Targ challenges Sartain's right to ride across an unclaimed stretch of meadow, Sartain decides he'll do better than ride through: He'll put down stakes there and homestead the land. So there's more at risk than land and pride when Targ hires a gunman to teach Sartain a permanent - and deadly - lesson

In these extraordinary stories, we meet a man who is forced to defend himself by taking another’s life - and must pay for his actions in a most punishing manner; a young thrill-seeker who finally finds a place he can call home, and vows to stay there - regardless of the man who tries to stand in his way; and a drifter who honors a deathbed promise to a stranger by embarking on an unlikely mission of mercy.

Ever since his father died, 14-year-old Tom Fairchild has helped his mother keep the ranch going. Soon it would be time to gather the cattle to market, and Tom was sent to ride into town to hire a hand. When he chose a stranger named Riley, the townspeople, the former hands, and the local law didn't approve. Worse yet, the sheriff said Riley was a former convict. But Tom didn't care. It was the first real decision Tom ever made on his own.

Ride with legendary Texas Ranger Chuck Bowdrie as he tracks the killers of an infamous Mexican outlaw, Zaparo, and 14 of his desperadoes. With nary a clue to the solution of this ruthless ambush, Bowdrie is led to the K-bar ranch, and the beautiful girlfriend of the last living member of Zaparo's gang only to find his prime suspect is a "friend" of the Texas Rangers!

Wagon trains heading west were forced to defend themselves against Indians, cope with injuries and illness, and struggle to find food. The group of easterners Rock Bannon was scouting for faced another problem. They were being deceived. When he warned them to remain on the Humboldt Trail, Sharon Crockett and the others refused to listen. Mort Harper, a stranger riding a beautiful black mare, had dazzled them with his charm and good looks. The southern route was the best way to go, Harper told them. But best for whom?

When Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie rides into a long-abandoned ranch, he discovers the skeleton of its owner. All signs indicate that he was murdered years before, and that his wife and young daughter were taken away by force. Bowdrie vows to bring the killer to justice and to track down the whereabouts of the missing women. The cold trail leads to hot lead in the town of Gabel's Stop, where a hardcase rancher has been waiting 16 years for the payoff of a lifetime.

To clear the name of an innocent man, Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie pursues a murderous gang of bank robbers and cattle rustlers.

Bud Miles was a boy when he crossed the Mississippi. But Bud buried his father after an Indian attack, and as the wagon train pushed on through Sioux country, the boy stood as tall as any man....Tell Sackett killed cougars at 14 and fought a war at 15. Now Tell was hauling dangerous freight - a soldier's wife and a fortune in gold--knowing that someone wanted him dead....Laurie Bonnet was a mail-order bride who thought she was a failure on the frontier.

"Killer from the Pecos": Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie rides into the wild town of Almagre trailing a Pecos bank robber who has left two men dead. "Lit a Shuck for Texas": Johnny Buck is a young Texas cowboy working for the Bar W. In the process of roping an old stob-horned steer, Buck is thrown from his horse into a cleft where he encounters the mystery of a murdered man and a bag of ore that just might be gold. "Turkeyfeather Riders": Jim Sandifer had run Grey Bowen's ranch for years in his absence. When Bowen reappears with his newly betrothed, Rose Martin, and her grown son, Lee, Sandifer is glad to see his boss.

Jim Sandifer had run Grey Bowen's ranch for years in the rancher's absence. When Bowen reappears with his new wife, Rose Martin, and Rose's grown son. Lee, Sandifer is happy to see his boss. But then scheming Lee Martin turns Bowen against his foreman and his neighbors. Can Jim stop the range war that's brewing without losing his job? And what are the Martins really after?

Tell Sackett knew that gold spelled trouble faster than anything except a woman, and he had a lot of gold. Problem was, none of it was his. Tell was just delivering the gold for a fee. And now the Coopers, a gang of bloodthirsty desperadoes, were hot on his trail.

"The Strong Shall Live": When they burned his home, he rebuilt it. When they shot at him, he shot back. But now the man they call Cavagan is in the worst bind of his life. "Keep Travelin', Rider": After an absence of several years, Tack Gentry heads home to his Uncle John's G-Bar Ranch. But when he arrives, the entire town has changed. What's more, strangers have taken over the G-Bar. "Strawhouse Trail": On a seldom-used smugglers' trail between Mexico and Austin, a man lies dying. Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie takes the stranger's body to Valverde, the nearest town.

When Jim Locklin pays his brother, George, a visit, he finds George missing, his horse ranch taken over by his brother's estranged wife, and a shifty gambler named Chance Varrow, who seems to have become a permanent visitor.

When Mac Marcy got it into his head to run his own cattle ranch, he spent five long years working for Ben Tanner at the Bar 7 to save up enough money to do just that. His dream finally realized, Mac stakes his claim on a deserted ranch in a nearby valley, and rides over to say hello to his new neighbors at the Flying K. Thing is, Mac finds more than he bargained for in the owner's pretty daughter, Sally Kenyon, who seems eager to help him get started with his own place. What Mac hadn't counted on, though, was the jealous foreman at the Flying K, Vin Ricker, who had plans of his own where Sally and the Flying K were concerned.

Where the real frontier begins...A young cowpuncher stakes a claim that can only be sealed with fists and a .44 Colt.... A gunfighter, tired of violence, finds himself pushed down a trail of bloody revenge.... From purple sage to gambler's gold, from a senorita's tempting smile to a splash of blood in the dust, here are stories with a distinctive L'Amour twist.

A quiet farmer defends his honor in a moment of panic and luck...only to find true courage on the run from the dead man's brothers.