Chumley's Gold — Wayne D. Overholser

HARD BATTLES

Wayne D. Overholser has won legions of fans with a depth of characterization and a range of imagination in frontier fiction, and the two short novels featured in this amazing collection are prime examples of his talent. In "Chumley's Gold, " young Dan Larsen learns after his mother's death that his father was a bank robber, and may have stashed stolen loot on a ranch he once owned. The ranch can be had cheaply for back taxes but nothing's that easy. The ranch has been claimed by Dutch Dorfman, who considers himself the law in those parts. And he aims to fight hard to keep it. "High Valley" is set in the Big Bear Mountains of the Colorado Rockies, where Joe Talbot works as ramrod for the Wagon Wheel spread. But life on the Wagon Wheel is getting rough. The owner died under suspicious circumstances, the owner's widow is prepared to sell out...and outlaws in the valley have just declared all-out war on the ranch."