Barbed-Wire Empire

This was the climax; the end of a lifetime of bitterness and hate—Rusty Maxwell and Ben Sharp, both grown old, grizzled, and rich; one the owner of a barbed-wire empire, a sea of grass larger than some Eastern states; the other risen to great political power, ruthlessly scheming to break the man with whom he had clashed ever since both had driven their longhorn herds over the trail to Dodge.

To cut that empire in two, to bring its over-lord to his knees, had long been Ben Sharp’s purpose. An...