Big Bend Ambush Author:Erle Adkins Life had been right peaceful in the Big Bend country of Texas until Chief Keoni rode into Fort Davis and told the colonel in command that the Apache were readyin' up to ride the warpath again. A year or so back the Apache had reached an agreement with a senator from Washington named Powers to cease their bloody attacks on stagecoaches ... more »and wagon trains in return for U.S. government-bought beef on the hoof. But the regular deliveries of beeves had turned into irregular shipments of rotting butchered meat, and it wasn't long before Army scout Joe Howard was ridin' into the stockyards at Marathon to find out who was dealin' deuces.
Joe Howard wasn't as tall a man as most Texans were storied to be, but he was hard as flint and could kick up a little dust when he had to. It don't take him long to figure out that Senator Powers and a trail boss names Haverty had their fingers in the pie, but it would take more than Joe's say-so to prove it. It would mean joinin' up with Haverty and his gang of flat-eyed brush-poppers on a cattle drive to a secret rendevous at a place called Marfa Canyon -- a no-man's land of heat and blisterin' winds where Joe knew he'd either save the taxpayers the cost of a hangin' or wind up learnin' the art of sky dancing himself.« less