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what this deputy is . . . only dressed up like a man.
    Sundeen grinned. “Maybe we ought to take his pants off and find out.”
    Frye held his eyes on Sundeen. Just Sundeen — he felt his anger mounting. “Sundeen, if you want to try, stop by the jail tomorrow.”
    Escape from Five Shadows (1956)
    No one breaks out of the brutal convict labor camp at Five Shadows — but Corey Bowen is ready to die trying. They framed him to put him in there, and beat him bloody and nearly dead after his last escape attempt. He’ll have help this time — from a lady with murder on her mind and a debt to pay back. Because freedom isn’t enough for primed dynamite like Bowen. And he won’t leave the corrupt desert hell behind him until a few scores are settled . . . permanently.
    Dallas Morning News : “As welcome as a thunderstorm in a dry spell.”
    From the novel:
    “I’m giving you warning now,” Renda said, including all the convicts. “One more out of line and somebody shoots. You’ll even think before spitting over the side of the wagon. You hesitate one second when you’re told to do something, you’re dead. You take one step in the wrong direction and you won’t know what hit you.”
    He turned to Bowen suddenly. “You understand that?”
    Bowen nodded, looking up at Renda.
    “Listen,” Renda said, “I’ll tell you something else. That stunt you pulled a while back . . . jumping off the wagon. You wouldn’t get just twenty days for it the second time.”
    He looked over the convicts. “You get past the guards, the Mimbres have got orders to take your scalp. You won’t be brought back here . . . just part of you. To prove you’re dead.”
    Last Stand at Saber River (1959)
    A one-armed man stood before Denaman’s store, and the girl named Luz was scared. Paul Cable could see that from the rise two hundred yards away, just as he could see that everything had changed while he was away fighting for the Confederacy. He just didn’t know how much. Cable and his family rode down to Denaman’s store and faced the one-armed man. Then they heard the story, about the Union Army and two brothers — and a beautiful woman — who had taken over Cable’s spread and weren’t going to give it back. For Paul Cable the war hadn’t ended at all. Among the men at Saber River, some would be his enemies, some might have been his friends, but no one was going to take his future away — not with words, not with treachery, and not with guns.
    New York Daily News : “Very tough and realistic.”
    From the novel:
    Cable stood over Dancey with the Walker Colt in his hand. It was cocked and pointing directly at Dancey’s head. Joe Bob and Royce said nothing.
    Dancey said, “You’re not proving anything with that gun in your hand.”
    “I don’t have anything to prove.”
    Royce said, “You think we won’t be back?”
    Cable’s gaze shifted. “You’ll ride into a double load of buckshot if you do.”
    Royce seemed to grin. “Man, you’re made to order. Duane’s going to have some fun with you.”
    Dancey’s eyes held on Cable. “So one man’s going to stand us off.”
    “That’s all it’s taken so far.”
    Hombre (1961)
    John Russell has been raised as an Apache. Now he’s on his way to live as a white man. But when the stagecoach passengers learn who he is, they want nothing to do with him — until outlaws ride down on them and they must rely on Russell’s guns and his ability to lead them out of the desert. He can’t ride with them, but they must walk with him or die.
    Western Writers of America: “One of the twenty-five best Western novels of all time.”
    San Francisco Chronicle : “Thrilling.”
    From the novel:
    [“Carl Everett Allen” is recalling how he came to write this account.]
    At first I wasn’t sure at all where to begin. When I asked advice, this man from the Florence Enterprise said begin at the beginning, the day the coach departed from Sweetmary with everybody aboard. Which