North to the Rails: A Novel (Talon and Chantry) - Softcover

L'Amour, Louis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553280864 ISBN 13: 9780553280869

Publisher: Bantam, 1987

Synopsis

When Tom Chantry comes west to buy cattle, he quickly runs into trouble. During a drunken scuffle in a bar, Dutch Akin challenges Chantry to a gunfight. Leaving town rather than face Akin, Chantry is quickly branded a coward.

Later, when hiring men to take his herd to the railroad, Chantry faces a dilemma: No one wants to make the long, dangerous ride with a leader of questionable courage. So when French Williams, a shrewd and ruthless cattleman, makes Chantry an offer, Tom reluctantly accepts his unusual terms: Tom must remain with the drive from start to finish. If he fails to do so, the entire herd will belong to French.

Tom quickly learns that life is not going to be made easy for him. The first man French hires is Dutch Akin.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

GUNNING FOR TROUBLE

Tom Chantry vowed he would live his life without ever carrying a gun. But when he drives a herd of cattle north of Dodge, he discovers that life is treacherous for an unarmed man -- especially for one who's been branded a coward. On the drive, Chantry encounters some of the land's most dangerous characters -- from notorious gunman French Williams and the murderous Talrim brothers, to a threatening tribe of Kiowa and an enigmatic femme fatale. As the drive twists Chantry's past and present together into a tangle of guilt, redemption, and buried family history, the line between friends and enemies grows faint -- and Chantry must sort out the people he can trust from those who want to do him harm....

From the Inside Flap:

Tom Chantry wore no gun and wished no man harm. French Williams was a ruthless cattleman more than willing to use his weapon. But Tom needed Williams to help him drive a herd north to Dodge. Setting off together on a trail alive with danger, soft-spoken Chantry and hard-bitten Williams faced storms, treachery, and Indian attacks. Now the man some call a coward and the man many call a killer have no choice but to trust each other with their lives--for both have enemies and both are pursued by a violence from the past.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0553280864
• ISBN 13: 9780553280869
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 272