The Western Double — Max Brand

When Samuel Cross was growing up, he was rarely found without a book in his hands and that was the way his mother, a widow, wanted him raised. His uncle, Stephen Larkin, a frontiersman, wanted him to be strong and able to fend for himself, so he would take him into the mountains every summer to teach him how to fight.

After his mother died he took a job as a clerk working for Chandler, the trader at Fort Bostwick. But during a visit from the district marshal he learns of Chandler's crooked ways so Cross decides to head East. His strength and skill with a gun make Cross both friends and enemies on the boat he is taking down the Mississippi.

He is saved one night from a fatal stabbing by Charles Granville, a well-to-do Southerner, who recognizes a startling resemblance between himself and Cross. He proposes that Cross repay him by taking part in a daring deceit. Feeling indebted to Granville, Cross agrees and heads to New Orleans.

But can Cross actually pull off the masquerade? And what is behind Granville's desire to have Cross take on the role of himself?