Louis L'Amour
Two men in the isolated town of Tucker want the XY ranch—Jim Walker and the ruthless Wing Cary—and one of them wants it badly enough to kill for it.
The Black Rock Coffin Makers is a tale of suspense and danger, with chases, shootouts, double-crosses and posses, all for possession of the XY ranch.
No one describes the adventures of the lone cowboy better than Louis L'Amour, who portrays the human side of the Old West before the days of law and order. Here is one of Louis L'Amour's short stories, with text restored according to the state of its initial publication.
In "The Lion Hunter and the Lady," the lion hunter is called Cat Morgan because of his reputation for being able to bag mountain lions alive to sell them to circuses and zoos.
...Tack Gentry has been away for a year when he returns to the familiar buildings of his uncle John Gentry’s G Bar ranch. To his amazement, the ranch has a new owner, who is unimpressed when Tack explains that his uncle was a Quaker, didn’t believe in violence, and never carried a gun. His advice to Tack is to make tracks. But Tack has other plans.
In the midst of a lively country dance, gunshots ring out at the stagecoach station and Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie finds the station's master sprawled in a pool of his own blood....