Buchanan 17

It was hot enough to burn rawhide, and lizards were frying on flat rocks. It was, Buchanan decided, just about two degrees fiercer than hell, and if he could keep going for another half an hour he’d allow himself a drink from his canteen.

He was in a mood for comfort, so naturally he got trouble.

He came on the troop of cavalry conducting an army prison wagon, and in the wagon he discovered his old friend, the Apache chief, Sentos, with three of his braves. It was well over a hundred and twenty degrees in the wagon. “What happened, viejo?” Buchanan asked Sentos.

“I was stupid,” the Apache said, “I trusted a blueleg warrior, and he betrayed my flag of white. Now they wish to hang me.”

Buchanan looked at the troopers and sighed. He couldn’t let them hang a friend.

The author of more than seventy books, Brian Garfield is one of USA’s most prolific writes of thrillers, westerns and other genre fiction. Raised in Arizona, Garfield found success at an early age, publishing his first novel when he was only eighteen – which, at the time, made him one of the youngest writers of Western novels in print.

A former ranch-hand, he is a student of Western and Southwestern history, an expert on guns, and a sports car enthusiast. After time in the Army, a few years touring with a jazz band, and a Master's Degree from the University of Arizona, he settled into writing full time.

Garfield is a past president of the Mystery Writers of America and the Western Writers of America, and the only author to have held both offices. Nineteen of his novels have been made into films, including Death Wish (1972), The Last Hard Men (1976) and Hopscotch (1975), for which he wrote the screenplay.

To date, his novels have sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Brian Garfield died on December 29 2018. He and his wife lived in California.