THE FINAL BOOK IN THE FLOATING OUTFIT SERIES

Belle Starr, lady outlaw, had been murdered, cut down from behind by a double charge of buckshot. Nobody knew who had killed her.

But Dusty Fog, Mark Counter and the Ysabel Kid swore they would bring in the murderer.

Getting whoever killed Belle meant a lot to the three Texans.

It meant more than ever to Mark, for he had planned to ask the girl to be his wife.

There were some strange goings-on in Roberts County, New Mexico, where it bordered the brooding Wapiti Hills.

Men had been disappearing without trace and all attempts to find them had failed.

When Mark Counter disappeared, the Rio Hondo gun wizard, Dusty Fog, and the Ysabel Kid went looking for him. Mark was their friend and they aimed to find him, even if it meant taking on the whole of Roberts County - it would be just too bad for anyone who tried to stand in their way.

Arizona Territory: loaded with silver, gold, and copper—and running with blood.

Now some hard-riding Texans are making a stand, backed up by the smoking guns of a bantam-fighter-turned-sheriff named Fog, the fists of a blond giant named Counter, and the honed steel of a silent killer, the Ysabel Kid.

But the forces of greed aren’t going to let go of Spanish Grant County without a final fight, and an army of hired gunslingers has been sent to take on the Texans.

And what the outlaws can't win with Colts and Winchesters they’ll try another way - by taking some women hostages, and earning the ire of a shootist named Calamity Jane!

Spanish Grant County is open for the taking, and some East Coast sharpies are moving in.

But the one man standing in the way is rancher Stone Hart, who has friends by the name of Fog, Counter, and Ysabel. And when the members of General "Ole Devil" Hardin's floating outfit are joined in Arizona by a lady named Calamity, the land grabbers, bushwhackers, and bank robbers have a wildcat by the tail.

Now the range is running with blood-and the wildcat is fighting back!

Stone Hart's Wedge crew take center stage …

“Let it drop, hombre!” commanded the black-clad Texan, his voice a pleasant tenor that nonetheless had a hard and a somehow chillingly savage note.

Turning as he heard the words, shortest of the group and thickset, McAvoy gave no indication of being willing to comply. Filled with the kind of hatred all his kind had for Southrons, he was disinclined to obey. But before McAvoy could turn his snub-nosed Webley Bulldog revolver up, he saw the black-clad Texan moving his way ...

When he inherited an Arizona ranch from an uncle he barely knew, Stone Hart packed off with a rambunctious crew of Texans and a thundering herd of longhorns.

But in the wilds of Arizona, some of Hart's new neighbors were hell-bent on claiming the ranch as their own...

WANTED – DEAD $5000

It might have been the normal poster put out by a law enforcement office that the Ysabel Kid held out, until the others read the name of the wanted man – Dusty Fog!

"For five thousand dollars, every bounty hunter and two-bit gun slick west of the Pecos'll be after your hide," the Kid growled.

"What do you aim to do about it?" Doc enquired.

"Stop them," answered Dusty Fog.

The towns at the end of the cattle trails north from Texas called for a special type of lawman.

None of the peace officers available struck the Governor of Kansas as suitable to clean out the worst, most corrupt town of all. Yet it must be done before Kansas was plunged into the bloodiest strife since the end of the Civil War.

So the Governor called on five Texans who had already brought law to two tough towns. Led by the Rio Hondo gun wizard, Dusty Fog, Mark Counter, the Ysabel Kid, Waco and Doc Leroy pinned on their badges in Trail End.

Then they went to work in the face of opposition from corrupt civic officials and crooked businessmen, risking their lives to tame the town.

By tradition all Texans are giants among men, with the capacity for performing great deeds. Take the Rio Hondo gun wizard, Dusty Fog, as an example.

At seventeen he commanded a company of the Texas Light Cavalry. With the Civil War ended he became segundo of the biggest ranch in Texas, trail boss with few peers, town-taming lawman of the highest order, and the fastest and most accurate of the quick draw breed.

That then was Dusty Fog - a Texan of the classic mold.

Except that Dusty Fog stood a mere five foot six inches in height.

Yet when the chips were down and folks needed a leader in desperate times or situations, Dusty Fog, the small Texan, stood tallest of them all.

Things were looking bad for Red Blaze.

First somebody put an arrow into his partner; then somebody put a bullet into a friendly Apache girl from the reservation.

Somebody wanted the Apaches on the warpath, and to do it they had to get Red out of the way.

But Red had a friend, a certain small Texan with a tall reputation.

Name: Dusty Fog.

After their first nine months on the recently opened Comanche range, the ranch-owners banded together to organize a great round-up.
/BR>John Chisum, the Cattle King, planned to gain control by making sure that one of his men was picked as the roundup captain who would be the supreme boss of the whole affair.

But the job went to a passing stranger. Removing him should not have been any great problem to Chisum, for his men were of the killer breed, mean gunmen to the core. However, there was one small detail, a fly in the ointment to Chisum’s success.

The name of the passing stranger was Dusty Fog.

They made an ill-assorted crowd:

The pious citizens of Baptist’s Hollow. Major Ellwood, mayor and town marshal. Doc Thornett's medicine show, with Madame Fiona, woman bare-knuckle boxer, her daughters, and Elwin, the boy who wanted to be a juggler. Sergeant Magoon, the wild Irish soldier who had brought his men. Chet Bronson and Harris, going to the Stockade for life. Big Em, the female fist-fighting champion of Fort Owen. The miners driven from the hills by Lobo Colorado’s Apache warriors.

There were four Texans also. Three were tall, eye-catching men. Yet when the chips were down and a leader was needed they called on the fourth Texan—a small insignificant, soft talking man. His name was Dusty Fog.

They came from the East: well-heeled city men with money in their wallets and greed and hate in their hearts.

Texas was their destination and in particular the cattle country of the Rio Hondo, which they thought to take over with the aid of their hired gunmen.

But when they chose the Rio Hondo country, they chose wrong, for this Rio Hondo country meant an outfit called the OD Connected, and that meant a man called Dusty Fog.

A collection of short stories

Ole Devil Hardin's O.D. Connected Ranch was watched over by an elite crew of top hands called the Floating Outfit. Most of them were veterans of the War Between the States. They were skilled with rifle, revolver and knife. Folks in West Texas knew better than to trifle with them. Five tough young Texans whose fast guns, hard fists and quick wits gave help to people in trouble.

The first of the short stories in this collection is later expanded (and greatly changed) in The Trigger Master.

There was the handsome giant, Mark Counter; the Ysabel Kid, part Comanche, master scout; Waco, the youngster who grew up real fast when trouble was around; Doc Leroy, with a skill at removing bullets that matched his ability to plant them home; and the man who welded them into a team—a small, insignificant cowhand in appearance, he commanded obedience from the toughest ranch crew in Texas and stood unchallenged at the head of the fast-drawn breed…His name was Dusty Fog.

The last thing Daniel 'Bull' Keleney wanted was for the children of Grattan, Texas, to receive an education. Being a ruthless man, he was willing to go to any lengths to prevent it—he had already forced every schoolteacher who had arrived to leave Grattan, and had arranged the murder of the latest one during what appeared to be a robbery.

And when he saw the insignificant looking young couple who arrived as replacements, the town boss felt sure that they would be easier to drive out than any of their predecessors. But that was the biggest mistake of Bull Keleney's life, for the girl’s real name was Betty Hardin, and her companion was her cousin, the master of triggernometry—Dusty Fog!

Their fame spread like wildfire through the West—a band of Texans who rode and fought together like brothers in the name of justice.

There was Mark Counter, the soft-spoken young giant whose dandy appearance belied a strength few men could match. Red Blaze, the young hothead, who when the chips were down was as cool and deadly as any other. The Ysabel Kid, part Comanche, part French Creole, and all fighting man. Waco, the orphan boy, completely fearless and bent on proving himself in the eyes of his friends. And finally the small, insignificant-looking man who was their undisputed leader … Dusty Fog, the Rio Hondo gun-wizard, the fastest draw in Texas.

Those who had crossed them and lived to tell the tale were few. One thing was certain—they would never again underestimate a man who rode with the Floating Outfit.

A short-story collection featuring the men sworn to serve Ole Devil Hardin, the crippled Texas rancher. The fastest guns and the fiercest fighters in the Southwest, they were known as Ole Devil's Hands and Feet.

Small Man From Polveroso City, Texas features Dusty on an errand for Ole Devil. Two teams of con-artists targets the small Texan but there was one thing shorter than Dusty Fog--the life of any man fool enough to throw down on him!

The Invisible Winchester, Chief Ten Bears comes to sign a peace treaty and nearly gets assassinated. Waco and Doc Leroy must use their respective skills to save Ten Bears and prevent a war in a display of teamwork that will later serve them well as Arizona Rangers (told in the Waco Series).

Responsibility to Kinfolks, Mark Counter once again comes to the aid of his black sheep cousin, Trudeau Front de Boeuf, who has been kidnapped. Red Blaze is along for the ride, thinking that any kin of Marks must be all right. Mark is less enthusiastic.

Part Four: With the absence of The Ysabel Kid, J.T. has provided the lyrics of some of the Kid’s favorite songs.

Rancher Sam Catlan and his two sons had been murdered—shot in the back by person or persons unknown. Sam Catlan had many friends—all of whom wanted to see his death avenged. But one young man in particular, to whom Sam had been like a father, swore he would hunt down the killer and pay the debt he owed the kindly old man who had raised him.

It was no empty vow. For the young man’s name was … Waco.

With Dusty, Mark and the Ysabel Kid of the Floating Outfit recovering in New Mexico, others of the outfit - Red Blaze and Doc Leroy are on hand to help Waco seek justice.

The hired gunmen came to Mahon’s place to take him away and kill him. But instead of Mahon they found a black-dressed Texas boy with a fast gun, and left him for dead, taking his horse. They had made their first big mistake.

In the town of Escopeta they met two more Texans, one a handsome blond giant, the other a small insignificant-looking individual, the sort of man one would pass in the street without a second glance. The hired gunmen passed him without a second glance and in so doing made their second, and biggest, mistake.

For the small man was none other than the famous Rio Hondo gun wizard, by name of Dusty Fog.

When the young newcomer to the town of Wet Slim discovered that Mavis Dearington had been kidnapped, he knew it was imperative that the ransom be paid. For Ramon Peraro, the bandido's leader, would then honor the girl's safe return — unharmed. But no money would mean an unpleasant death ...

Learning that Mavis' uncle was gathering a force of men to cross the border into Mexico to try and rescue her, the newcomer knew there was not the slightest hope of them succeeding without causing an international incident. There was only one way to prevent such a foolish attempt — cross the border and rescue the girl himself!

An impossibly dangerous mission for one man pitted against a ruthless gang of bandidos … except when the man in question was the Ysabel Kid!

Mark Counter, blond giant of Ole Devil Hardin's floating outfit, was famous throughout the West for his strength, his skill as a cowhand, his prowess with the ladies, and an ability second only to Dusty Fog when it came to a lightning-fast draw.

But Mark had kin who were almost as famous as he was.

Here, in one volume, is the story of Mark Counter’s famous kin—James Allenvale Gunn, better known as Bunduki, Chief Game Warden of an African Wildlife Reservation—Brad Counter, Deputy Sheriff in Rockabye County—Sergeant Ranse Smith, member of the elite but little-publicized Company Z of the Texas Rangers—and Jessica and Trudeau Front de Boeuf, two of the most likeable rogues who ever trod the Old West.

Four stories, stretching across three time periods - from the Rio Grande to the African jungle; this book is the incredible adventures of his offspring. Please note that it was the author's decision to put these stories as part of the Floating outfit series, even in a chronological spot.

When the gunplay started the five Texans were in there, fighting to a man.

And when the gunsmoke cleared, they were the ones still on their feet, If you were lucky enough to be their friend you were a friend for life.

If, though, you made yourself their enemy, you might as well start digging your own grave. Because if you called down one of them, you called down all five.

That was the way things were with the legendary Floating Outfit.

They were all at Tombstone to try and win the matched pair of gold-inlaid Colt Cavalry Peacemakers.

Bat Masterson was there, in dude dress and with a fancy hat.

Tom Horn was there, looking like a bold Apache war chief.

Burt Alvord was there, the ex-deputy who never brought in a living prisoner.

Wyatt Earp was there, looking like a prosperous trail-end town undertaker.

On the contest day nine men stood on the line, eight of them tall, and who could draw and shoot in half a second.

The ninth man was small, an insignificant Texan against whom the bartender of the Bucket of Blood Saloon gave odds of ten to one .. His name was Dusty Fog.

Things looked bad for the KH. They were the only outfit in the Azul Rio basin that hadn't joined Lanton's cattle syndicate, and the ruthless boss of the S Star was bent on making things difficult for the rival spread. And Lanton wasn't particular about how he achieved his ends.

The S Star hired killers were having things all their own way until three Texans rode into town. Their leader's name was Dusty Fog ...

Elmo Thackeray died the richest man in Texas, leaving his vast fortune to be divided between his relatives and friends. Ole Devil Hardin was asked to gather together the beneficiaries of the will and deliver them to the Thackeray family house. Ole Devil gave the order for his famous Floating Outfit to ride.

Dusty Fog, Mark Counter, the Ysabel Kid and Waco thought their troubles would be over when they delivered the legatees to the old house. They were wrong. Under the terms of the will, the last legatee alive inherited the entire fortune  and it looked as if one of them intended to be the survivor who claimed it all!

Captain Dusty Fog and the Ysabel Kid had heard some shaggy tales before, but this one took the prize. Some fancy Easterners were determined to save the noble buffalo from the Indians. To do it they wanted Dusty and his Texans to make a trail drive to a safe range--a trail drive of bison.

The only trouble was, Dusty and his comrades hadn't heard the half of it. The Easterners had a secret scheme up their sleeve, and it didn't have anything to do with saving buffalo. Now the Texans were heading off into a storm of dust, trouble, and blood that would begin with an ambush and end up in a town called Hell.

And before it was over, the Texans would do the one thing they were sure would fix the situation: pick up their guns and fight!

Three men rode down the hill towards the body of the dead cavalry officer. On the right was a Texan—small and insignificant-looking. His name was Dusty Fog. On the left was Mark Counter, the dandy of the group, known and feared from Texas to New Mexico. And in the middle, hands never far from the butts of his guns rode the Ysabel Kid, six feet of slim and deadly manhood. Three men with purpose in their hearts and death in their holsters.

Over-eager settlers and gold-hunters were dead set on sneaking into the Black Hills, even if it provoked the Sioux into a bloody war. The only thing that could stop the rushers was the U.S. Cavalry. And the only man who could lead the cavalry was a Yankee-hating ex-Reb named Dusty Fog.

Assigned to protect Crown Prince Rudolph of Bosgravinia while he was on a hunting expedition in Texas, Ole Devil Hardin's Floating Outfit knew that their task would be anything but easy.

For one thing, they were fighting two separate groups of assassins, both made up of Rudolp's countrymen. But Dusty Fog, Mark Counter, the Ysabel Kid and Waco considered that the most serious threat had been removed. Posing as a hired killer, the small Texan had brought Beguinage, Europe’s top assassin, into the open and killed him ... or so they thought.

Then things started to happen which made the Floating Outfit change their ideas from Beguinage being dead to the almost unthinkable "Beguinage is very much alive!"

To protect the life of a visiting European Crown Prince from threatened assassination, the Governor of Texas could have called up the Texas Rangers, or even the United States Army.

Instead, Stanton Howard obtained the services of Ole Devil Hardin's floating outfit. Dusty Fog, Mark Counter, the Ysabel Kid and Waco had handled many dangerous people in their time, but they'd never met the like of the one employed by this band of conspirators to kill the Crown Prince.

Acknowledged as Europe's premier assassin, Beguinage came and went unnoticed by all except the victims. And had never failed in an assignment. The only way Dusty saw of saving the Prince was to use himself as bait for a trap—knowing that when it was sprung, either Beguinage or he would be dead...

The task had seemed simple enough to the Ysabel Kid. All he had to do was ride into Mexico, find the man who had killed James Bowie at the Alamo and ask him to return Bowie’s legendary knife to its rightful owners.

Nothing simpler ... or so the Kid thought ...

But before the job was through he had locked horns with some mighty bad hombres. Men like Manos Grande, the fearsome Yaqui war chief; Silk, a dude but also a lightning fast killer; Juan Escuchador, as mean a bandido as ever slit a throat; or Octavius Xavier Guillemot, the international criminal with a nature as deadly as a rattlesnake, to name but a few who wanted to lay hands on Bowie's blade.

And then there were the women, real tough ladies like Belle Boyd, the rebel spy working for the U.S. Secret Service or Belle Starr, the outlaw — but at least they were on the Kid's side— or were they?

The Brotherhood for Southron Freedom's message had gone out through the ex-Confederate States. Give money to buy arms! Make ready for the day of reckoning with the Yankees!

THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN!

In Texas, the unscrupulous leaders of the Brotherhood had gathered a band of desperate, dangerous men and armed them with repeating rifles. Belle Boyd, the Rebel Spy, now working for the U.S. Secret Service, was on their trail. As she saw evidence of their growing strength and power, she knew that she would need help to defeat them.

So she sent a message to her superiors, telling all she had learned and offering a solution to the menace. She said, "Send me three regiments of Cavalry ... or Dusty Fog!"

Dusty Fog and his companions had made good their escape from Hell.

But they had left behind men and women at the mercy of the Kweharehnuh Comanches. Bad men, who had committed almost every kind of crime, and women who were not much better, it is true. That did not stop Dusty feeling concerned for their safety. So the Rio Hondo gun wizard decided that he must go back to Hell.

Despite all the dangers which doing so entailed, the Ysabel Kid and Waco insisted upon accompanying him. Emma Nene and Giselle Lampart also returned, hoping to bring back a fortune in jewelry. The mysterious man called Break O’Day rode with them — but he intended to be the only one to come out of Hell alive.

To be made welcome at the town called Hell in the Palo Duro, a man had to have a price on his head and be willing to share his loot with the mayor.

If he did, he would be safe from the law. By arrangement with their chief, the Kweharehnuh Comanches protected Hell and kept away unwanted visitors.

Being determined to wipe out the outlaws' stronghold, but wishing to avoid starting an Indian war, the Governor of Texas asked a friend for help. So Ole Devil Hardin's floating outfit set off on another dangerous assignment.

Not only did Dusty Fog, the Ysabel Kid and Waco have to get by the Kweharehnuh, they had to try to stay alive once they reached the town called Hell.

When Belle Boyd, the Rebel Spy, learned of a plot to organize the Southern States in an attempt to secede from the Union, she faced a problem. During the War Between the States, she had rendered loyal service to Dixie. At its end, she had taken the oath of allegiance to the Union and was now a trusted member of the U.S. Secret Service.

Any clash of loyalties was averted when the Frenchman, a leader of the Brotherhood for Southron Freedom, caused the deaths of two of Belle's friends. The Rebel Spy swore that she would avenge them...

Even if it had to smash the Brotherhood to do it!

To the Kiowas a white buffalo was a sign of plenty. Only a name-warrior must kill it and even then a medicine-man had to perform the sacred rites over the hide within a prescribed time or all benefits would be lost. The fact that Luke Crammer had slaughtered a white buffalo could easily launch a full-scale war between the Kiowas and the white men of North Texas.

Similar trouble could come too from the Sioux, for their war-chief, Grey Bear, had been kidnapped by a bunch of hardcases and branded a thief. Grey Bear could not accept such shame and do nothing.

Only one person could possible stave off the trouble - the Ysabel Kid, the man the Pehnane Comanches called Cuchilo … The Knife.

To Gavin Gartree’s bunch of hardcases, "work" was a cussword, "innocent" was a come-on, and a young pilgrim girl was an invitation to a molestation. But nothing was quite as it seemed. For a start, the young pilgrim girl in question was accompanied by a small and seemingly inconsequential Texan by the name of Dusty Fog. But that was the thing about Dusty Fog. Though small in stature, he was a giant when it came to fighting, and he always made his first shot the last shot as well.

The pattern was always the same when the Bad Bunch made their raids. They chose their time when there was a county fair, or some such diversion, to take folks minds off the protection of their property. Then they'd start a fire in another part of town, so that all the local lawmen and officials would have their hands full with that. Then they'd move in on their chosen target.

To catch them seemed easy enough for Dusty Fog, Mark Counter and the Ysabel Kid. All they had to do was wait for a county fair, watch out for a fire, and then make sure they were at the bank in time to stop the planned robbery. But even the floating outfit found the Bad Bunch a mite tricker than expected!

The pattern was always the same when the Bad Bunch made their raids. They chose their time when there was a county fair, or some such diversion, to take folks minds off the protection of their property. Then they'd start a fire in another part of town, so that all the local lawmen and officials would have their hands full with that. Then they'd move in on their chosen target.

To catch them seemed easy enough for Dusty Fog, Mark Counter and the Ysabel Kid. All they had to do was wait for a county fair, watch out for a fire, and then make sure they were at the bank in time to stop the planned robbery. But even the floating outfit found the Bad Bunch a mite tricker than expected!

The Ysabel Kid was being followed as he rode the trail back to Rio Hondo County. The three hombres behind him were robbing cowhands of their cattle-drive pay, and the Kid had been deputized to stop them. Riding out on his lonesome, he intended to bring justice to this lawless land.

But another gang was also at work in the Texas hills, and they had snatched the granddaughter of Ole Devil Hardin, the Ysabel Kid's boss and owner of the famed OD Connected ranch, from the local stagecoach. Now the Kid wants more than justice, he wants revenge. His Winchester is at the ready, his bowie knife is sharp and unsheathed, and his eyes are glittering with rage. But he didn't know a criminal mastermind was behind the kidnapping. And he didn't know the varmint was no gentleman. It was a lady gone bad.... …

Morton Lewis was part Indian – which meant that the only way the land-grabbers could take his ranch from him was to kill him – and the killing had to seem to be legal. But Mort's grandfather was a Comanche war chief, and if a Comanche brave should be killed, those savage warriors would ride to avenge him and in so doing trigger off an uprising that could ravage the State of Texas …

Two young men rode to avert the trouble. One was the Rio Hondo gun wizard, Dusty Fog. The other was, like Mort, part Comanche. Mostly he was known as the Ysabel Kid. But there were some who called him a White Indian…

WHITE INDIANS is a retelling of a story first published in an earlier book entitled THE HALF-BREED. It is what J.T. referred to as an expansion. He wrote several of these toward the end of his career – claiming that the Fog-Hardin-Blaze clans had given him information not available when the books were originally published, so that he could finally tell the full story.

Like the man the mob was trying the lynch, the Ysabel Kid was half Comanche. He was a crack shot with a Colt Dragoon, a master of the border country art of "cut-and-slash," and the fastest shot with a Winchester Yellow Boy repeater Texas had ever seen. Of course the mob didn't know that. All they say was a baby-faced kid in black who needed to be taught a lesson …

They were trying to cheat young Sandy McGraw. If it hadn't been for his friends they might have succeeded in depriving him of the ranch he had inherited.

But Sandy's friends were the right people to have on your side. One was Red Blaze, who always managed to find more than his fair share of any fights in his vicinity. Another was Betty Hardin, granddaughter of Ole Devil Hardin and an expert at ju-jitsu and karate. And the third was none other than the man with the fastest draw in the west, Dusty Fog.
Even so, the three found themselves in trouble over … McGraw's Inheritance!

When Churn Wycliff's gang killed Sailor Sam Carol, Mark Counter of Ole Devil Hardin's legendary Floating Outfit swore to bring them to justice. Taking their trail, the blond giant matched his enormous strength and lightning-fast draw against the brutal, evil pack. In the end Mark found Wycliffe a prison of the Kaddo Indians, doomed to die by torture. But Mark aimed to take his old friend's killer in for trial … even if he had to lick the whole Kaddo tribe to do it.

Fast and deadly as a snake which gave him his name, Sidewinder, the limping Comanche war chief, rampaged across Texas and threatened the peace between his people and the white men.

Only a man with a tremendous knowledge of the Comanche could hope to prevent Sidewinder from endangering the whole Comanche nation with his policy of burning, killing and looting, which would inevitably bring retaliation from infuriated Texans and U.S. Army personnel.

He was big, blond and dangerous. From the top of his low-brimmed Stetson to the soles of his cowhide boots, he was one hundred percent fighting man. A member of the legendary Floating Outfit and right-hand man to the Rio Hondo gun wizard, Dusty Fog, Mark Counter was a man to be reckoned with. A man whose second name was trouble!

With a Colt in her purse and a price on her head, she was fair game for every bounty hunter in the Territory--until she hooked up with the Floating Outfit's "best-dressed man," Mark Counter, the segundo of the Rio Hondo Gun Wizard himself.

The wagon train was heading for Backsight, the people looking to the West and a new home. Only Colonel Raines and his scout, Tom Blade, knew the danger that was stalking their every move. He had the fool idea that he could push a wagon train through the meanest country in the west. Then Tom Blade was dead, killed in an ambush, and Raines rode into Hammerlock to get help from the law. In Hammerlock he found four men who had been friends of Tom Blade.

Three of them were tall men, Texans who would catch the eye in any crowd. The Fourth was a small and insignificant-looking cow hand who hardly seemed to rate a glance. Yet when he spoke, the other three jumped to obey. In his presence the gun-hung toughs of Hammerlock grew silent and uneasy .… for his name was Dusty Fog.

Since Thad Toon had put the 'Indian sign' on Ben Holland's spread, no cowhand would ride with the Rocking H's trail drive. Just to make sure, a rough-cut gang of killers had been hired to keep it that way. Then Dusty Fog and the Floating Outfit rode into Granite City, and Dusty decided to take up the dare … and teach the Double T what Texas trail-bossing was all about!

It all began when young Wes Hardin stepped up to a wrestling booth to try his strength against big, brawny Negro Sam. Within a few minutes a vicious gunfight had developed, and then Wes was on the run, branded a murderer — and without a single witness left alive to testify to his innocence.

Then he met his cousin, Dusty Fog …

The floating outfit —Dusty, Mark Counter and the Ysabel Kid — took up the fight against the evil corruption which had laid its hand on Wes Hardin!

Gold makes good men greedy, and makes greedy men vicious and wild. Which is why Quiet Town was about as quiet as a hellcat's scream. .

They didn’t have any law in Quiet Town – except that of the gun. Three good men had the badge of Sheriff and died wearing it. .

The good citizens felt that their town needed a real lawman, someone who would play the killers and hard cases at their own game. They knew of one man who could do the job. His name was Dusty Fog. And Dusty decided it was time to bring some lay to Quiet Town. If that meant facing down every gun thug in the Montana Territory, Dusty was ready, willing … and damned able.

The Pilar Hide and Tallow Company were in trouble—their enormous profits looked like dropping if Colonel Charles Goodnight's scheme of driving cattle across country came to fruition. In order to protect their interests the five partners came to an agreement—an agreement that Mark Counter had to break.

This was all fine and dandy, except that the hide and tallow men were ruthless, unscrupulous and had small regard for the sanctity of human life. Their women were even worse. And Mark Counter found himself in the middle of the conflict, with lead likely to be thrown his way from every side...

Colonel Goodnight's cattle drive to Kansas could save war-torn Texas, but it would ruin the slaughter-house owners who stayed rich but keeping the ranchers poor. The 'hide and tallow men' hired an army of gun-hung toughs. Goodnight had the help of the Floating Outfit. And Fort Worth had itself a war!

Other States were carved or born,
Texas grew from hide and horn.
There were problems to be solved before that became true. Where to sell the cattle which swarmed across the Texas ranges and how to get them to the market; also whether sufficient longhorns could be delivered at one time to make a long journey to a market profitable. Charles Goodnight thought he had the answers and aimed to prove it. Backed by Ole Devil Hardin’s already legendary floating outfit, he set off with three thousand five hundred head of cattle for distant Fort Sumner. With Dusty Fog as his segundo, Goodnight meant to deliver his herd and so pave the way for Texas to grow from hide and horn.

The cities of the eastern States were hungry for beef. The problem was how to get it to them. Colonel Charles Goodnight had a plan that might work—if he had all the luck he needed. Things seemed to be going well, especially with the Floating Outfit on his side—Mark Counter, the Ysabel Kid and Dusty Fog, the small Texan who walked tall. But what Goodnight didn’t need was an enemy like John Chisum ...

An Apache warhorse gone wild. He was the magnificent prize in a fierce mustanger range war on the west Texas plains. Colin Farquharson, the Scot in the skirt, is determined to catch the infamous wild stallion Mogollon for his ladylove Jeanie Schell. On one side was a small army of hired killers armed to the teeth. On the other side was the proud Scot and his Texas woman, backed up by three cowhands from the Floating Outfit. Just about an even match!

Post-Civil War Texas is a hell of a rough place. And for a man wearing a kilt, it is even rougher. Colin Farquharson insists on retaining his native Scottish dress but to do so unarmed on the Texas frontier could get him killed. At least it provides a distraction for the bandits attempting to rob the stage he's on and a distraction is all his fellow passenger, the Ysabel Kid, needs.
Unfortunately the leader of the bandits is killed in the process and his brothers blame Colin and come looking for him. If he's going to stay alive long enough to impress mustanger's daughter Jeanie Schell, Colin will have to learn to use a gun and he'll find no better teachers than the fighting men of the newly formed Floating Outfit.

His father was Sam Ysabel, a wild Irish Kentuckian who’d come to Texas in the early days and rode as scout to Jim Bowie. His mother was the daughter of Chief Longwalker and his French Creole squaw. That dangerous mixture of bloods produced a son who inherited the sighting eye of an eagle from the sure-shooting, rifle-toting Kentuckian stock. From the French Creole side he got a love of cold steel and the inborn knack of handling a knife. And from his Comanche grandfather he got his horse savvy and ability to read sign where a buck Apache might falter. His full name was Loncey Dalton Ysabel. Most men knew him as … the Ysabel Kid.