Max Brand has long been considered one of the finest chroniclers of the Old West. Under his pen, the West and all its characters come alive in full color. Collected here, for the first time in paperback, are three of his greatest short novels.

The title story is the desperate tale of Bill Rafferty, recently released from prison, who needs to dig up the loot from his crime before his partner is freed and comes to collect his share. In "the Strange Ride of Perry Woodstock," a man gets hold of a coded message that reveals the location of a buried treasure - only to find that it comes with a gang of cutthroats ready to kill him for it. And finally, "Reata" introduces the man who would become one of Brand's most popular characters, a man who did not carry a gun, but who was a master of the rawhide rope.