Ralph Compton the Empire Trail

Informationen zum Autor Jeff Rovin Klappentext In this thrilling installment in bestseller Ralph Compton's Trail Drive series, a small ranch owner drives his herd into Mexico and is startled to find that human life comes cheaper than beef on the hoof. Andrew Buchanan has a problem. His modest ranch in Southern California is being pressured by an unscrupulous competitor and the encroaching wave of the future-orange growers. The only chance he has to sell his cattle for real money is to take them south into Mexico. The Empire Trail is five hundred miles of misery that crosses scorching deserts and clings to treacherous cliffs-and it's Andrew's job to find the best way across. But physical barriers are not the only thing he must contend with. A group of dangerous men are trailing the herd, determined to take the cattle or die trying. But this is Andrew's livelihood that hangs in the balance, and he won't go down without a fight. Leseprobe CHAPTER ONE   I'm supposed to be afraid . . . of this?"   Andrew Pierce Buchanan looked at the orange a moment longer, then squeezed it in his big bare hand. The rind gave easily and pulp and juice oozed around his fingers. He opened his palm, turned his hand over, and let the fruit drop to the rusty red dirt. Then his dark brown eyes returned to Chester Jacob, the man who had given him the fruit.   "You proved absolutely nothing except that you're a stubborn man-a good man, don't mistake my meaning, but one without a good head for business."   The speaker, Chester Jacob, pulled the drawstrings on the canvas sack. He threw it back over the shoulder of his brown suit.   "And you, my friend, are like my kid brother used to be," Buchanan said. "Always impressed with things that are new."   Buchanan's young, devoted Australian shepherd, King, came romping over, following the strange scent. The six-foot-three rancher lowered his hand to where the dog could lick it.   "He don't seem so fond," Buchanan said as the dog turned elsewhere.   "They're for people," Jacob replied with frustration. "Oranges are not just new, Andy. They're vital, alive."   "Not so alive," Will Fremont chuckled. The foreman of the AB Ranch was standing beside Buchanan. Each laugh caused his outsized chest to expand and contract like a blacksmith's bellows.   "That was one," said the disgusted Jacob. "Imagine thousands."   "That's what I'll have to, friend," Buchanan said. "Imagine them. They're not coming. Not to my land, anyway."   "Like Indians, they will surround you before you know you're in danger," Jacob said.   "Then you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you warned me and I didn't listen."   "Besides, boss needs something to rope," Fremont said. "He loves throwin' a lariat. Can't do that with an orange."   The agent for Widmark Shipping sighed and hoisted the sack over his shoulder. The man was a fit, bronzed statue in a brown suit that had been battered about the seams by constant travel and too-little darning.   At least he doesn't have to worry about being stopped by the hands-up crowd and robbed of his clothes, Buchanan thought. There were still outlaws, renegade Rebels among them, who dogged the routes he took.   Fremont was watching the dog and chewing on a dead cigar. "Boss, you remember that hailstorm that smacked us about, oh-four, five years ago?"   "Summer of '65, right after the war. What about it?"   "Yes, what does that have to do with anything?" asked Jacob, taking out his impatience on the shorter man.   Fremont puffed on the cigar, with no success. He was glaring at Jacob and did not seem to notice.   "Those hailstones tore heck out of the silo, the barn, and the house Andy had built. Even wo...

Product details

• Authors: Ralph Compton, Jeff Rovin
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 28.02.2021
• EAN: 9780593102442
• ISBN: 978-0-593-10244-2
• No. of pages: 288
• Dimensions: 105 mm x 171 mm x 19 mm
• Series: The Trail Drive Series
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature