Robert E. Howard turned to writing comic and dialect Western tales only late in his career, but he found an immediate and continuously successful market for them, and they are in many respects his most accomplished and polished works. The sixteen tales collected here are some of the best of his stories, featuring Breckenridge Elkins, Pike Bearfield, and Buckner J. Grimes - three inimitable characters who lead well-intentioned lives of perpetual confusion, mischance, and outright catastrophe. Fifteen of the stories were published between 1934 and 1937 in Action Stories, Argosy or Cowboy Stories; the other remained unpublished for more than thirty years. Many of these stories were rewritten for book publication and have never been reprinted in their original form. They are reminiscent of traditional southwestern tall tales, told in dialect, featuring larger-than-life characters, swift action, broad satire, and wry humour.

Contents

• Introduction by David Gentzel
• Mountain Man
• Meet Cap'n Kidd
• Guns of the Mountains
• The Peaceful Pilgrim
• War on Bear Creek
• The Haunted Mountain
• The Feud Buster
• The Riot at Cougar Paw
• Pistol Politics
• "No Cowherders Wanted"
• The Conquerin' Hero of the Humbolts
• A Gent from the Pecos
• Gents on the Lynch
• The Riot at Bucksnort
• Knife River Prodigal
• A Man-Eating Jeopard