PERIL AND INTRIGUE ON THE BORDER
DELL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
George T. Delacorte, Jr.
President
Albert P. Delacorte
Vice-President
Helen Meyer
Vice-President
261 Fifth Avenue
New York 16, N. Y.
Printed in U.S.A.
DESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY
WESTERN PRINTING & LITHOGRAPHING COMPANY
Copyright, 1947, by Les Savage, Jr. Reprinted by arrangement
with Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, N. Y.
[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
GLENN CRAWFORD, whose pallor and feverishly glowing eyes mark the threemonths he has just spent in a hospital as the result of an accidenthe suspects was planned, has the restless animal lines of body andnegligible hips of one who has been much in the saddle. Hotheaded, oncefearless, he is presently trying to overcome an unreasoning panic andpain which rack his body whenever he goes near a horse.
MERIDA LOPEZ, whose presence at the Big O ranch is surrounded bymystery, has a faintly exotic beauty and slumberous, provocative eyeswhich both irritate Crawford and stir something primal in him. Heisn't sure of her game, but he knows a woman like Merida doesn't trailthrough the wild brush country just for the scenery.
DR. FELIZ HUERTA, who looks as though he's in the process ofdisintegration, has strongly arched brows and a graying peak of hairwhich gives him a satanic cast. His eyes hold a dull, jaded lackluster,and even the slightest movement seems to cost him infinite effort. Forhis own reasons, he is extremely interested in Crawford's symptoms.
QUARTEL, come to wind up affairs at the Big O, is a huge hunk of thickbrown flesh with sensual lips and shoulders like sides of beef. Heboasts he can rope better, ride farther, drink more and cuss dirtierthan any hombre between Texas and Mexico City.
OTIS ROCKLAND, whom Crawford makes no bones about hating, is theowner of the Big O. As Crawford looks at it, Rockland's dealings withCrawford's pal, old Delcazar, were no less dirty for being legal.
DELCAZAR, who fears his friend Crawford is mixed up in the mostdangerous thing that ever hit the wild brush country, is an aged,gnarled, and skinny Mexican who lives alone in the back country. He hasrheumy eyes in a face seamed as an old satchel.
CABEZABLANCA, so-called for his head of pure white hair, is one of theBig O crew. He has a reputation for being deadly dangerous, but forsome reason Huerta seems to have him under his thumb.
JACINTO (LITTLE HYACINTH) DEL RIO, the big, fat, grumbling cook,listened to his father when he told him there were two sins in theworld, working and fighting, and if he avoided both of them he wouldsurely go to heaven.
BUENO BAILEY, a tough bronc-buster, gaunt as an alley cat, has milkyeyes, and parts his long yellow hair in the middle, slicking it downwith bacon grease. Crawford suspects him of being responsible for his"accident."
AFORISMO, who has a sinister proverb for every occasion, is a thin,stooped man whose eyebrows, slanting toward the middle of his forehead,give him a mournful expression. His favorite motto, cut into hisrazor-sharp knife, is Tripe is sweet but bowels are better.
WALLACE TARANT, Otis Rockland's lawyer, has a broad-shouldered,narrow-hipped frame, a square brow and a wide, thin-lipped mouthwhich should have held a palpable strength. But his eyes won't meetCrawford's, and his voice is small for such a large man.
SHERIFF ED KENMARE, weary lawman of San Antonio, whose duties hangheavy upon him, has a bulbous nose