Ira Compton Livres

Gregorio Montoya does not want to become involved but when the Mexicans challenge Charlie Howard's authority to place a tariff on the pure white crystals of salt that nature has deposited in the dry lakes at the foot of Guadalupe Peak, he cannot help himself. He risks everything, including his future with Maria. Even the infamous Billy the Kid tries to keep Gregorio out of trouble, but it is to no avail.Although acceptable under American law, the Mexicans feel that no one person should own a mineral deposit that is supposed to be for everyone. It should stay as it was under Spanish lawthe commodity was placed there by God and is free to whoever wants to haul it to market. For generations, it is the way Mexican peasants obtain cash when the Rio Grande River washes out their crops or the locusts come. Whenever their harvests fail, they travel the seventy miles for cart loads of the crystals.A newly organized Texas Ranger detachment tries to stop the onrush of battle, but, for the first and only time in Texas history, the commander surrenders to the enemy, and Judge Charles Howard, along with two of his confederates, is executed by the mob. The three executions end the skirmish and send Gregorio and Maria fleeing into Mexico.

Detecting the distant booms of many rifles, Will Trent turns his horse toward the noise, knowing that some soul is in trouble. He really had no intention of signing on to help the poor widow and her two young kids rebuild their wornout ranch, but having seen all the suffering and death during his three years with Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had been enough. He just couldn't ride out after breaking up the Comanchero raid. Not and leave a defenseless woman and two starving young'uns. His drifting would just have to wait a spell.Calling on some of his former Texas Cavalry partners for help, Will begins building Widow Ida McMoray's herd from mavericks he can trap out of the rough Devils River country. As the herd grows, Will runs afoul of the widow's brother-in-law, Clyde McMoray and his pack of cutthroats. It is McMoray's plan to someday own the ranch as well as lovely Ida.As Will's time on the ranch lengthens, so does his desire for the hand of Ida; yet he has nothing to offer her but his strong back and . . . his gun . . . .

U. S. Marshal, Yancy Lawhorn opened the door to Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett's office looking for his Apache friend, Paco. Garrett had telegraphed the marshal soon after he arrested the Indian for murdering four white tracked them down and methodically killed each one of them, but why, Lawhorn wondered. Pat could only shake his head. Paco would talk to no one, including his friend Marshal Lawhorn. Coming to believe there is more to this tragedy than has thus far come to light, Lawhorn feels that Bright Dove, Paco's beautiful sister knows more than she is telling. Could the Indians being cheated out of their rightful rations at the Indian Agency somehow be associated with the killings? Or could the issue of inferior goods have contributed in some way? The marshal intends to find out, but locating witness and convincing them to testify proves to be a tall order. As the various threads of fact come together, Yancy's life is threatened, but with his determination set to seek the truth surrounding the murders, Yancy places his loyalty to Paco above his own self-protection.