В сборник вошли юмористические повести об искателе приключений с Дикого Запада Брекенридже Элкинсе.

Наш современник, молодой и известный ветеринар, волей случая попадает в штат Монтана девятнадцатого века и сразу начинает понимать, что здесь даже просто остаться в живых будет очень трудно. Прерии, ковбои, индейцы, дилижансы, бандиты и проститутки — весь антураж Дикого Запада в наличии, вот только реальность очень сильно отличается от красивых картинок из вестернов. Но у нашего героя есть верный кот, а это уже очень немало...

Он — безжалостный убийца. Но что произойдёт, если он на один краткий миг вспомнит о человечности, и во что ему обойдётся собственное милосердие спустя несколько лет? Когда девчонка, которую он когда-то помиловал, подрастёт и решит отомстить. Только удастся ли ей это?

Америка, Дикий Запад.

Персона нелюдимого могильщика собирает вокруг себя самые разные слухи среди деревенских жителей. Правдивы ли они? Кто знает. Он же, не обращая на пересуды внимания, скромно живет в каморке на кладбище, слушает кантри-музыку и поддерживает покой павших рутинной, необходимой работой. Но иногда – совсем нечасто – в его тихую обитель наведываются непрошеные гости… Содержит нецензурную брань.

Appaloosa, the hometown of Territorial Marshals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, continues to prosper, but with prosperity comes a slew of new trouble: carpetbaggers, gamblers, migrants, peddlers, drifters, thieves, and whores, all boiling in a cauldron of excess and greed. And there’s a new menace in town: a wealthy, handsome easterner — and the owner of Appaloosa’s new casino — Boston Bill Black. Boston Bill is flashy and bigger than life. He’s a prankster and a notorious womanizer, and with eight notches on the handle of his Colt, he’s rumored quick on the draw. When he finds himself wanted for a series of murders, he quickly vanishes. Cole and Hitch locate and arrest him, but Boston Bill escapes once again. Another murder sets the duo on his trail, eventually taking them back to Appaloosa — where one woman in particular may — or may not — prove to be the apple of Boston Bill’s eye.

Во второй том включены авантюрные романы Ф. Герштеккера, известного немецкого беллетриста и путешественника, рассказывающие о начальном освоении Дикого Запада в бурные для экономики США 40-е годы XIX века, а также остросюжетная повесть А. Донна, освещающая период фактического окончания покорения Дикого Запада в начале XX столетия.

Arizona Territory... the country of red deserts, rocks, high buttes and mountains--a harsh land but still a land, the Apaches had chosen for their own. 

The land made the men, and the Indiands were trained from infancy to match their strength, their cunning, their hunting ability against the rigors and pitiless cruelty against the wildest country. 

For generations the Apaches raided into Mexico for horses and woman and cattle, but those creatures that they made their own they always treated with care and respect. And so when they found a squalling, black-haired baby boy in a white man's wagon and their chief Geronimo claimed it for thier own, the baby became an Apache. 

At first he was only known as Ish-kay-nay--boy. In the Apache tradition he had a private name, which nobody would ever use, but his public name had to be earned. At ten Ish-kay-nay killed his first bear--singlehanded and with only a bow and arrow. So Ish-kay-nay became Shaz-Dijiji--Black Bear. 

And this was only the beginning of a life filled with the danger and excitement of the hunt, not only for food but against enemies who had become increasingly threatening--and of all these enemies, the most satisfying to hunt were the white men who had now begun to ravage Apache country. To this hunt Shaz-Dijiji dedicated himself.

Apache Devil is a sequel to this story.

Sequel to The War Chief

From inside cover of Ballantine first edition:

Shoz-Dijiji, the Black Bear... a white man who believed himself to be a full blooded Apache, and who had dedicated his life to a feud against the treacherous "white eyes" who had invaded his country and destroyed his family...

To the pony soldiers and to white travellers he became known as the Apache Devil, a pitiless scourge who swept in, killed, took his vengeance, and slipped away without a trace. Thus Shoz-Dijiji, the adopted son of Geronimo, was honored in his tribe.

And even among his sworn enemies there were those who called him just, and a friend. One of these was a woman--who loved Sho-Dijiji. But she was white--an impossible obstacle to the racial pride of an Apache warrior.

So Sho-Dijiji continued to live his life of hate and loyalty and love, of running fights, of massacre and torture; until at last even the tribe of Geronimo signed a peace treaty with the white men--and Sho-Dijiji learned that the woman he loved had been stolen by renegade white outlaws. Then Sho-Dijiji hunted as he had never hunted before.

Сборник правдивых историй, записанных в самое разное время в самых различных местах.

От автора:

Будет пополняться. А может и не будет.

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