The Virginian: A Horseman Of The Plains

Widely regarded as being the first American western novel, this loosely constructed story of a naturally aristocratic cowboy is set against the Johnson County War. Such an eye as this did the pony keep upon whatever man took the rope. The man might pretend to look at the weather, which was fine; or he might affect earnest conversation with a bystander: it was bootless. The pony saw through it. No feint hoodwinked him. This animal was thoroughly a man of the world. His undistracted eye staye...