In 'Renegade Rifles', the hostile Apache have attacked a wagon convoy at night, a time when traditionally the Apache do not fight. In 'Trouble Weather', the herd being driven from Montana to make up the beef ration for the local reservation has been unaccountably delayed, causing a possible uprising. Cattle thieves in the Old West were never easy to apprehend, but when, as in 'Rain Valley', they are protected by a mountainous terrain, a lawman such as Burt Crownover must resort to wiliness and deception to gain secret access. These three novellas contain all the characteristic magic and power of Lauran Paine's Western stories, the universal themes of learning from experience, respecting nature, and changing times and attitudes.