Look for these exciting Westerns series from bestselling authors
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE
and J. A. JOHNSTONE
The Mountain Man
Preacher: The First Mountain Man
Luke Jensen, Bounty Hunter
Those Jensen Boys!
The Jensen Brand
Matt Jensen
MacCallister
The Red Ryan Westerns
Perley Gates
Have Brides, Will Travel
The Hank Fallon Westerns
Will Tanner, Deputy U.S. Marshal
Shotgun Johnny
The Chuckwagon Trail
The Jackals
The Slash and Pecos Westerns
The Texas Moonshiners
AVAILABLE FROM PINNACLE BOOKS
BUZZARD’S BLUFF
A BEN SAVAGE, SALOON RANGER WESTERN
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE AND J. A. JOHNSTONE
PINNACLE BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Also by Title Page Copyright Page CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 13 CHAPTER 14 CHAPTER 15 CHAPTER 16 CHAPTER 17 CHAPTER 18 CHAPTER 19 CHAPTER 20 CHAPTER 21 CHAPTER 22 CHAPTER 23 CHAPTER 24 Teaser chapter ABOUT THE AUTHORS
PINNACLE BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2020 J. A. Johnstone
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Following the death of William W. Johnstone, the Johnstone family is working with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Mr. Johnstone’s outlines and many unfinished manuscripts to create additional novels in all of his series like The Last Gunfighter, Mountain Man, and Eagles, among others. This novel was inspired by Mr. Johnstone’s superb storytelling.
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
PINNACLE BOOKS, the Pinnacle logo, and the WWJ steer head logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7860-4589-1
Electronic edition:
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-4590-7 (e-book)
ISBN-10: 0-7860-4590-6 (e-book)
CHAPTER 1
Wilfred Tuttle stood in the open door of his store and watched the two riders he could see in the distance, approaching his store. As his eyes were no longer as sharp as they used to be when he was a younger man, he squinted in an effort to identify the two men. Tuttle had operated his little store, perched on the bank of the Brazos River, for more than twenty years, and he had seen his share of good and bad men. At this particular time, he hoped the two approaching now were a better sort than the two who had left his store that morning. At least, he was sure they weren’t the same two, for those men were following the river trail down the Brazos. The riders he was looking at now were traveling from the west to intercept the river trail.
After a few moments more, his scraggly whiskers parted to make room for a grin when he recognized the familiar form of Texas Ranger Ben Savage. The fellow with him, riding one of those horses called a Palouse, was still unfamiliar to him. He walked on out to the porch to wait for them. “Howdy, Ben,” Tuttle sang out when he pulled up at the hitching rail and dismounted. He had grown to like the broad-shouldered, easygoing Ranger in the last twelve years since Ben had made his first visit to his store. “Who you got with you?” Tuttle asked.
“Howdy, Wilfred,” Ben responded. “This is Ranger Billy Turner. He’s come down from Fort Worth.” They tied their horses and stepped up on the porch.
“Howdy, Billy,” Tuttle said. “Welcome to my store.” Turning back to Ben, he asked, “You wouldn’t happen to be lookin’ fer two mangy-lookin’ saddle tramps ridin’ the down-river trail, would ya?”
“As a matter of fact,” Ben answered. “When did they leave here?”
“This mornin’,” Tuttle said. “About eight-thirty I’d say, and I was glad to see ’em go. Who are they?”
“They’re stagecoach bandits,” Ben answered. He paused before going on. “Billy, here, came down from Fort Worth to give us a hand in catchin’ up with ’em.”
“Pleased