It all started over a herd of cattle. Of course, out in this country the trouble is nearly always started over somebody else's something--cattle, or water rights, or woman. This time it happened to be cattle.

The Colt Peacemaker in .38-40 was a popular handgun in the Old West because it was potent and dependable.

Alonzo Black had a little homesteaded place down in the south end of Presidio County and ran his herd of cattle on the state land that surrounded him. Now, I'm telling you that's hardscrabble country down that way; it's a tough country to make a living in. But it seems that Alonzo had come up with a way to turn an extra dollar.

He went over into Mexico and bought up a herd of steers that he arranged to be delivered to the U.S. Customs pens at Presidio. Actually, he only ran about a third of the herd through the Customs pens and paid duty on them. The rest of the herd he drove up the Rio Grande and crossed them during the dark of night. Avoiding paying duty on the majority of the cattle would give Alonzo that extra profit when he delivered the herd to the buyers at the railroad shipping pens at Valentine. And if he was stopped he could always show the duty papers and receipt he'd gotten from the Customs officers.

The whole scheme would probably have worked pretty well except that his path to Valentine led right across the homestead of Henry Skinner. In his hurry to get to the railhead, Alonzo committed a serious violation of range-country manners. He cut Skinner's fences and left them lay.

Back in those days, Henry Skinner was running a prosperous pool hall in Alpine and letting his son look after his homestead holdings. Ranch-country gossip being what it is, Henry knew exactly what Alonzo Black was up to and had decided to mind his own business and let Alonzo mind his. All of that changed, as you might imagine, when Henry's son reported to him about the cut fences. Henry went straight to Milan Wright, the U.S. Customs agent, and told him all about Alonzo's herd of smuggled cattle.

Agent Wright jumped into action and stopped Alonzo's herd just south of Valentine. He confiscated the cattle and cited Alonzo to federal court for smuggling livestock, an offense that could end up with him going to the federal pen. Somehow or another--that's the way these things usually work out--Alonzo found out that Henry Skinner was the one who had turned him in, and he vowed to kill him on sight.

That's the reason Henry showed up at my Alpine office looking for help. "Ranger Taylor," he said, "I've never owned a pistol, but I sure think I might need one now. Could you help me out?"