Adventures and Western. Book 5

Adventures and Western. Book 5: 1. Above the Law; 2. Acres of Unrest; 3. Alcatraz.


1. Above the Law: Published: 1918

«In his first western tale, “Above the Law” … [Faust’s] villain, the bandit Black Jim, has the books of Scott, Shakespeare, Poe, Byron, Malory at his bunk. Poetic passages are found in practically every Faust story. These unexpected—and to action-addicts maybe unwelcome—interludes are Faust’s invitation to “walk a long distance into the minds of one another” as he states in Evan Evans’ Montana Rides! where his triumphant hero proclaims, “I feel as if I owned the whole green world.”

«HER eyes were like the sky on a summer night, a color to be dreamed of but never reproduced. From the golden hair to the delicate hands which cupped her chin a flower-like loveliness kept her aloof from her surroundings, like a rare pearl set in base metal. Her companion, young and darkly handsome, crumpled in a hand, scarcely less white than hers, the check which the waiter had left. In the mean time he gazed with some concern at his companion. Her lips stirred; she sighed.


2. Acres of Unrest:  Published: 1926

The Hale brothers, both successful ranchers, had a disagreement: Ross believed that with a fine education his son Peter would become even more successful than he was himself: Andy believed the opposite.

Injured in an accident at college, Peter Hale can no longer work his father’s ranch, but he has a plan to give the homestead an infusion of cash—a plan no one would expect a cripple to pull off.


3. Alcatraz: Published: 1923.

An American Western Classic! 

This is a story of a wild horse who many said could not be caught or broken, and the man who set out to prove them wrong. 

Alcatraz is Max Brand’s 1922 tale of love, greed, obsession, and the magnificent horse who has killed for his freedom. His ultimate fate will be determined by the outcome of silent combat between an ambitious and lonely woman who inherits her father’s dusty ranch and her foreman who is determined to win the ranch for himself. Into the midst of their desperate fight ride a fiery, red-headed bronco buster who lives careless and free and Alcatraz. When their competing obsessions with freedom, dominance, power, and love bring them together, none will emerge unscathed.