A Texas Ranger in Arizona

The book begins with Spence Pierce, Texas Ranger, in the little town of Lampasas, Texas. His mission is to capture a murder suspect who shows up in a saloon with his brothers. After a rope trick that suddenly took the family members by surprise, the murder suspect is captured and turned into the Burnet County Sheriff's office. Spence returns home for a much needed rest where he renews his family connection, breaks a couple horses and trains one to pull his wife's carriage. Going into town for supplies he encounters an Army Major who is in search for horses to take to Arizona to outfit the cavalry at Fort Huachuca. The fort currently had foot soldiers but was tasked to pursue and bring in the Apache Indians in the area. The foot soldiers could travel 3-5 miles a day while the Apache moved on horseback and was always gone before the soldiers could arrive. Taking the Major out to his ranch, Spence was able to sell his horse herd to the Army, with conditions that he delivered them to the fort in Arizona. Spence returns to Fort Stockton where the Ranger Company is based and requests a leave of absence from the Rangers. He is tasked to capture and bring to justice the notorious outlaw Wild Bill Longley before he is allowed to take his leave. Longley is found lying up in a saloon with his girl friend and sister. Longley is captured but the young man, after nearly getting shot, decided the Texas Rangers wasn't what he thought it was. Spence finds enough horse wranglers to start the drive of his horse herd to Arizona. He has hired an old Mexican vaquero and a want-to-be stagecoach robber that had bungled his first job by being shot by his girlfriend and ran over by the stage. Spence hired several others to help with the drive. The drive begins and takes its path from Fort Stockton, through the mountain passes north of El Paso and across New Mexico. During the drive the horse herd is attacked by a group of horse thieves. The wranglers continue driving the horses towards Arizona. The camp cook gets separated from the drive and is surrounded by Indians. Spence joins back up with his horse herd in time to encounter riders following his herd. The wranglers take precautions and finally the riders come into camp. It turns out that they had been hired by the Army to escort Spence and his horse herd through the worst of the Apache lands. They came to the rescue when the horse herd is hit at night by the Apaches and after a skirmish, the horses are found and returned. Arizona storms present as much of a problem as horse thieves and Apaches. The high wind and heavy rains cause a stampede of frightened horses. Finally Spence gets his horses to Arizona but several wranglers threaten to leave when they approach Tombstone. Fortunately the Army meets the herd to escort them through the Apache hills north of Tombstone to Fort Huachuca. Delivering the horses Spence is offered a retainer if he and his men would stay and help train the soldiers in horse craft as most of the soldiers had never ridden before. One night in a local saloon Spence is approached by an Arizona Ranger that had heard he was in town and that he was a Texas Ranger. The Arizona Rangers had just been organized and they did not have any experience in fighting Indians or outlaws, both of which were in abundance in Southern Arizona. Spence and his men signed on to help with tracking and the capture of the largest band of outlaws in the area. After several weeks they finally found the outlaws in their camp and a gunfight erupted that killed an Arizona Ranger and a rancher in the first rounds of fire. The outlaws escaped during the night and the Rangers are forced to track them through the mountains and into New Mexico. The end brings Spence and his men going different ways, some to remain in Arizona, others to try their hand at gold and silver mining and a couple to return to Texas with Spence.