
In the dusty town of Turquoise, the resignation of the long‑standing sheriff leaves a power vacuum that falls on his reluctant deputy, Roaring Rigby. A wiry, hard‑eyed lawman with a reputation for stubbornness, Rigby must decide whether to step into the badge or walk away. He meets with the town’s weary judge, a man whose love of liquor has clouded his judgments but whose heart still longs for a cleaner community.
The two men argue over the town’s lingering vice district, a remnant of a wild mining boom that still draws troublemakers and gamblers. As Rigby grapples with the judge’s earnest yet flawed reform plans, he discovers that enforcing the old sheriff’s gun‑carrying ordinance could be his only chance to restore order. With his own skin on the line, he must weigh personal survival against the fragile hope of a town yearning for respectability.
Language
en
Duration
~4 hours (248K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
New York, NY: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1927.
Credits
Roger Frank and Sue Clark (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2023-08-10
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1883–1969
Best known for lively Western stories filled with humor, mystery, and ranch-country adventure, this Montana-born writer created the popular cowboy sleuths Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens. He also worked in Hollywood, writing for films from the silent era into the 1940s.
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