Overrun by hard-bitten miners, gamblers, and the kind of no-account drifters that follow the gold camps, Basin City is a place where no respectable citizen feels safe. That's why three of the town's foremost businessmen have gone and hired a new marshal. Tomorrow he'll be in charge of protecting a stagecoach carrying over a quarter million dollars in gold as it moves out of the Basin City depot. Tonight he'll be defending his life.

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.

Life on an Ohio farm couldn't hold young Bill Carey. He wanted the adventure he knew waited in the territories to the west. He'd drifted into the outlaw life and found himself shot up, a lawman on his trail, holed up on a small farm near the lair of Tabat Ryerson. Ryerson, the man who'd introduced him to cattle rustling and bank robbery, was a cold-blooded killer, the man who'd turned the sweet young woman who'd saved Carey's life into an unwilling accomplice.

"There's Always a Trail": When a stranger named Handy offered to track down Cass Bailey's stolen money for a stake in the CB range, Bailey has nothing more to lose. "Home in the Valley": Steve Mehan had done the impossible when he drove a herd of cattle from the Nevada range to California in the dead of winter. But Mehan had little time to rest before tragedy struck. "Monument Rock": It had been many years since Lona Markham's father sent her from the rigors of ranch life to a convent school. Now she's returned to a wary, careworn man who hardly seems like the father she remembers.

Johnny Buck is a young cowboy, working for the Bar W. In the process of roping an old stob-horned steer, Buck is thrown from his horse - and into a hidden cleft where he encounters the mystery of a murdered man and a bag of ore that just might be gold.

Cattlemen ride alone across the open range under the deadly aim of roving desperadoes.... Gamblers stake their fortunes and their lives on a deck of cards.... Strong-willed señoritas seek independence through an enticing combination of beauty, audacity, and spirit.... Lawmen and outlaws walk the same dusty streets and speak a common language: Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson.

"Man Riding West": Jim Gary had always tried to avoid trouble, but after he is forced to kill a Mexican gunman in a cantina showdown, trouble seems to seek him out. "Grub Line Rider": Most folks would call Kim Sartain an easygoing, peace-loving man, but the few who crossed the young drifter know there is nothing he likes better than a good fight. "Down the Pogonop Trail": Jeff Kurland didn’t have a gun; he didn’t have a chance. The rancher knew that even as he scanned the cabin for a weapon, any weapon. He was trapped with a killer who had a pistol in his hand and a bounty on his head

Scott Miles and his son Billy are on their way to a new life in New Mexico, but fate deals them a bad hand in the deceptive currents of the Missouri River. Their wagon nearly splintered, one mule of their team lost in the river, Scott and his boy have almost no chance of joining the last wagon train heading out before winter closes in. But Scott wasn't counting on a miracle in the form of a strong-willed woman and the unwavering faith of a young boy.

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 he warned them that greed and overgrazing would ruin their land, they refused to listen.

An action-packed story from the popular western anthology, Long Ride Home.

Tough and vicious, the Fred Henry Gang had been robbing banks all along the stage route from Santa Fe to Tularosa. It was only a matter of time before they hit the sleepy town of Sentinel, and Marshal Fitz Moore knew that day had come.

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.

Folks far and wide know that the Cactus Kid can handle a pistol with the best of them. But for all his skill and coolness under fire, there's jut one small weakness he can't seem to overcome - and it may prove the death of him.

The open West was a land where wanderers could find themselves a home--a home to fight for, to be changed by, sometimes to die for. From a has-been boxer to a ranch hand taking on his bosses' troubles, the characters in these classic Louis L'Amour short stories are all "riding for the brand" - staying loyal to what matters.

It was a name that caused the most hardened gunmen to break out in a cold sweat: Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie. Pursuing the most wanted men in the Southwest, he knew all too well the dusty trails, the bitter cattle feuds, the desperate killers, and the quiet, weather-beaten towns that could explode into mayhem with the wrong word. He had sworn to carry out the law, but there were times when he had to apply justice with his fists and his guns.