The Misdeal

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. At the NR ranch, four hard-bitten cowboys—Leather Kleig, Wheezer Bell, Chet Wells, and Wooden-shoe Van Dorn—find themselves in a scramble of greed, suspicion, and darkly comic panic after the death of old Nick Ralls. They had helped build the ranch's prosperity through cattle theft, brand tampering, and other crooked dealings, and now fear they've been cheated out of the fortune they expected. Their bickering, full of rough humor and threats, only grows when Ma Coogan, the practical ranch cook, hints that Nick left a will and a lawyer was involved. That warning proves true when lawyer Eph Williams returns with Sheriff Ben Murtch and Miss Jane Cleveland, Nick's only living relative and the new owner of the ranch. Jane's cool authority unsettles the men, who respond with sarcasm while trying to invent claims for back wages and promises made to Ma. As legal pressure mounts, trouble spreads to Broken Butte and the Shoshone Saloon, where the ranch hands' lawless reputation follows them. When one of the men is arrested after drunkenly exposing a suspiciously branded horse, Leather realizes the whole rustling scheme may be unraveling. In a sharp, ironic turn, he confronts the new powers, protects Ma Coogan, and reveals the NR's uneasy foundation of fraud, loyalty, and survival.