Silvertip's Strike

In Silvertip's Strike, Steve Wycomb leaves his ranch to three of his enemies, hoping that it leads to violence and bloodshed. His wishes inevitably come true. Excerpt: «When Jim Silver came over the last divide, he could see the ranch house among the low foothills, and beyond the foothills was the desert. It looked like a green smudge, olive-green drab; but he knew that at close hand the green would thin out to a sparse scattering of shrubs, all of which were arrayed in foliage that was no more than a mist, the leaves turning their edges up to split the full heat of the sun that would have withered them…»