Originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, Luke Short’s psychologically complex tale of a man standing alone in a bitter range war is one of the greatest westerns ever penned. Made into an underrated film with Rod Cameron in the role of Will Ballard, it made it into the Top 25 Westerns of all-time in a poll of the Western Writers of America, coming in at #16. Since Short has two in there, I might move it up to #10 where Vengeance Valley sits, but you could just as easily make the case that one of Short’s other Westerns could fill either spot. He was just that good.

The former newspaperman from Illinois also spent some time as a trapper in Canada during the very early 1930s. Times were so lean he tried his hand at pulp western writing. But by 1938 he was being published in Collier’s, and three years later his novel, Blood On the Moon (Gunman’s Chance) was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. That noir western would eventually be filmed, like a lot of his popular books, but Short has somehow fallen out of vogue, and out of print, in our day. Perhaps it is the darker shadings to some of his stories, or the complex subtleties of plot. But there will be no doubt after reading Ride the Man Down, or any of his fine novels, that he was one of the best Western novelists of all time.

Will Ballard is the foreman for Hatchet, a spread everyone wants to move in on once Phil Evarts is dead. His brother has taken over responsibility for the 70 thousand acres of Hatchet land, but everyone knows he’ll be reasonable about giving some of it up. It is Will Ballard that Bide Mariner will have to worry about. Things quickly shape up into a range war as Ballard seems to be the lone man fighting to hang on, even against the owner. While this sounds typical, it is anything but, due to the complex underpinnings and masterfully hued personalities. A contrast is slowly drawn between Celia Evarts, and the schoolteacher, Lottie, whom Will is set to marry. The shadings revealed in their characters as things escalate is deftly painted by Short with a light stroke, until no doubt is left as to who they are. The romantic entanglements of Will and Celia are given a rich and mature depth, making both the people and the situation real. There are no picnics or buggy rides here, simply two people gradually realizing through circumstance just how much they were meant for one another.

The range war story itself is exciting, filled with action and danger. An act of vengeance by Will when Evart’s brother is killed, will prove the catalyst for everyone to pick a side. Which side is picked will reveal the character of each man and woman involved. Will brings things to a head by a clever strategy placing anyone encroaching on their range on the wrong side of the law. But hatred and jealousy will prove to be stronger motives than land in the end. Those motives lead to one final deadly confrontation in this fabulous Western, which was made into a very underrated film starring Rod Cameron. Short balances a rich and mature narrative with all the traditional elements that make a Western exciting, and fun to read. Low-key, gritty, this is one of the finest novels about a range war ever penned. ( )