
On the rugged crest of the cedar ridge, twenty‑year‑old Joan Randle watches the distant mountains of Idaho’s southern border, a land reshaped by feverish gold rushes and a wave of restless strangers. Raised in a respectable Missouri family before the frontier called her to a life of horse‑riding and self‑reliance, she now navigates a world where lawlessness and opportunity collide. The wilderness is both beautiful and unforgiving, and every trail she follows seems to echo with whispered tales of blood and treasure.
A bitter quarrel with Jim Cleve, the man she both loves and despises, drives her deeper into the range. Their volatile encounter—charged with fierce kisses and harsh words—reveals a fragile trust strained by the chaos of the growing settlement. As Joan pursues Jim’s trail, the tension between desire and independence sharpens, setting the stage for a clash that could determine not only their fates but also the restless spirit of the border itself.
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (519K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Charles Franks, David Widger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Release date
2003-10-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1872–1939
Best known for turning the American West into fast-moving adventure stories, he helped shape the popular Western novel for generations of readers. Before becoming a full-time writer, he trained and worked as a dentist, then went on to publish dozens of books and become one of the genre’s biggest names.
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