But instead of meeting a lonely death, he met Will Reilly-a gentleman, a gambler, and a worldly, self-taught scholar. For ten years the each were all the family the other had, traveling from dusty American boomtowns to the cities of Europe-until the day Reilly's luck ran out in a roar of gunfire. But it wasn't a gambling brawl or a pack of thieves that sealed Will's fate. It was a far more complex story that Val would uncover, one that touched upon Val's nearly forgotten childhood, the woman who was Will Reilly's lost love, and the future of a growing country. In the meantime, Val would make sure no one forgot Will-least of all the men who killed him. But he need not have worried, for Will's enemies were now his own....

    For a decade they are unbeatable and inseparable, working as trail hands throughout the West until finally settling with Cal Brennan’s Slash Y. Their rough cowboy ethics see them through every imaginable challenge: blizzards, rustlers, outlaws, and card games gone wrong. Partial to pretty women, gambling, and practical jokes, Monte is often on the receiving end of trouble, while Chet is always there to break him out of jail or serve as a decoy until Monte can get out of town in a hurry. As the West begins to change, however—the automobile replacing the horse, the herds breaking up—the two friends part ways. Chet marries and goes on to become a successful merchant, banker, and politician; but Monte, unable to imagine anything but the cowboy’s way of life, refuses to the end to leave the range.