The day Chip Bennet and Weary Davidson came upon some slaughtered Flying U cows with their hind quarters skinned out, they knew that cattle rustlers were on the rampage. Then a hidden rifleman tried to shoot them out of their saddles - a warning that something even more sinister than rustling was happening. But even shrewd Chip never suspected that Big Butch Lewis was rounding up gunmen from all over Montana in a sweeping plan to make the range a stronghold for outlaws. Bertha Muzzy Bower was the first woman to make a career of writing Western fiction, and remains one of the most widely known authors of the western novel. Her first novel, Chip of the Flying U, was an instant success, and led to fourteen novels about the Flying U Ranch in Montana. Her novels are characterized by a sharp wit, a strong sense of family and loyalty, and the authentic quality of her cowboys.