The Ox That Gored — James D. Crownover

Deputy U.S. Marshal Lee Sowell and his posse chase bootleggers, killers, and robbers across Indian Territory in the 1880s. Sometimes their methods are a little shady, if not downright illegal, but they get their man. In far western I.T., they avoid massacre by Comanche Indians by fighting fire with fire(water). Two of Lee's posse go out on their own to capture bootleggers and their whiskey still, deep in the Unassigned Lands. Bass Reeves, Lee's mentor, is accused of murder and it is left up to Lee to find and bring in the witnesses that would save Bass from conviction. In the process, Lee is shot and his life saved by a woman with an old Kentucky long rifle. Later, they corner a killer at Robbers' Roost.