The Western Trail: The Trail Drive, Book 2

This book follows another, The Goodnight Trail, which I have not read. Although it is a sequel, i found that a complete understanding of what had transpired in the prior novel was contained in this volume. There are probably a lot of events which would be enjoyable reading to flesh-out this book's brief references, but for the purposes of completely understanding a story this one stands alone. Benton McCaleb and his partners, several of whom are from his Texas Ranger days, are driving their own herd north to start their own ranch. With the men is Rebecca and her brother, from the first novel. Along the way, Bent and she are formally married, in a double ceremony with another partner and his fiance. The drive is accomplished with relatively little trouble, much due to the contributions of "Goose", their Lipan Apache friend and scout. It is a nice touch that at the end he also finds his love. The cowboys who accompany the partners are all good men, and more are added as the story progresses and more cattle are acquired. Bent and his partners ensure that fair sharing of land and profit goes to the hands, who, one just understands, will become partners as time goes on. The bad guy is George Francis Train, of the infamous Credit Mobilier scandal, and his gang of no-goods. Under Train's leadership, the hoodlums have established ranch sites along the length of the Sweetwater Valley, and it becomes known that Train and his gang have discovered gold which, of course, requires that any more settlers be discouraged from filing on land that Train cannot legally acquire. McCaleb and his men do file on a large piece of land and the rest of the story is devoted primarily to Train's efforts to force them out. McCaleb enlists the aid of a band of friendly indians, but that is dealt a premature end by the actions of Rebecca's brother, Monte, who falls for a young lady of the tribe. The result is a meeting in secret, from which a baby comes, and the indians leave, depriving the ranch of the added force and protection from Train's gang. Another partner, Brazos, finds love with a lady who has a young daughter, which ends well after tragic events first make their love seem unattainable. This is a different Compton style, about a group of "heroes', rather than a single individual. But it is a great read, hard to put down, and I highly recommend it.

A sequel to "The Goodnight Trail"; I could hardly wait to start it and see what happened. Very good writing. Any good Western fan will love it.

After the civil war there were thousands and thousands of wild maverick cattle available in the breaks of Texas available to anyone crazy enough to round them up and drive them to the railheads. In this story McCaleb and his bold-spirited cowboys brave over a 1000 treacherous miles to drive 2400 head of ornery cattle into Wyoming's Sweetwater Valley. With the help of Shoshoni indians and Buffalo Bill Cody, McCaleb and his men, stand and fight to win and call the land their own.

Gil and Van Austin cross the Mexican border to find and rescue their friend Clay Duval. During this escapade they find thousands of roaming cattle just waiting to be taken. It is not an easy task as they incounter outlaws, soldiers and other hazards.

McCaleb is back with his gang of cowboys. This time around, they are trying to make a home for themselves. The book has a lot of great suspense scenes, but the conclusion to each one is usually quick and disappointing, and sometimes leaving you with more questions that weren't answered. I gave this book four stars mostly because I enjoyed myself, isn't that what a book is supposed to be for? But it could have been better.