This exhilarating Western story describes how Blue Pete-"the most popular cowboy character in fiction"-bested Frenchy Thoreau, a cattle-thief and worse, with oddly chivalrous ideas but a killer as quick-witted as swift on the draw. On the prairies and mountain trails of the Canadian-U.S. border, rife with rustlers' feuds and treacherous bands of outlawed Indians, Blue Pete relentlessly stalked his dangerous quarry. At bay, Thoreau turned and struck with deadly precision, and Blue Pete, out manoeuvred and out-gunned, was jammed in the tightest corner of his rip-roaring career.

Blue Pete, secretly chosen by the Mounted Police to capture an Indian murderer, in his characteristic way picks up the trail and follows it into the mountains. He becomes involved in a bank-robbery that earns him a new and implacable enemy who dogs his path throughout the chase of the murderer-a perilous, unrelenting chase in the depth of winter. Disguised as an Indian, Blue Pete moves from tribe to tribe, helped and hindered by the red men. He faces zero cold, wild animals, and flying bullets, and all the time he must keep secret the task he works at. Finally, he faces a dilemma where duty and instinct struggle for mastery.

Blue Pete, that most famous cowboy whose adventures have been recorded in a long line of thrilling novels, is here involved in a strange and dangerous mission on behalf of the Mounted Police. Alone he has to discover the secret of the insurrection which the mysterious OGreat ChiefO of the Indians is planning: alone he penetrates to the mountain stronghold of the rebellious Indians where capture would mean a slow and agonizing death. OLuke Allan, O says Truth, Ohas the technique of the Wild West at his fingertips.O This latest Blue Pete yarn of galloping hooves and gripping, snap-shooting action is one of his best.

Blue Pete, in his role of undercover helper of the RCMP, once more sets out to bring justice and retribution to a group of bank-robbers who had held up a bank in Red Deer. Ring-leader of the bandits is Flying Cloud, an Indian with a forked tongue, who tries to outwit the half-breed on his trail and in doing so start a feud between two neighbouring camps. Mountain Stream, a wise chief, sees through Flying Cloud's game, and his friendship for Blue Pete remains unshaken. But Brown Tepee is won over by Flying Cloud's easy promises. He overcomes his fear of the long arm of the Mounties, and joins forces with Flying Cloud. But Blue Pete is more than a match for both of them. Time and again he foils their cunning moves to destroy him and his friends, and finally he is able to defeat them in the very moment of their triumph. Yet even Blue Pete has to learn afresh that he cannot accomplish all he sets out to do without help from Mira, the amazing white woman who married him and shares his wild, untamed life.

Once again Blue Pete features in this high-speed Western. As usual, on the side of border justice, he is marked down by his enemies for vengeance; and Pete, taking the law into his own hands, is hunted by the Mounted Police. On the prairies and mountain trails of the border a desperate double duel of wits and guns is fought out but the tough little half-breed finally triumphs in spite of the Mounties misgivings.

WHAT THIS STORY IS ABOUT As much to serve his own ends as to help the authorities Blue Pete went to the aid of the Mounties in rounding up a mysterious cattle rustler who did not shrink even from murder. How, with his characteristic genius for finding trouble, Blue Pete was soon at grips with his old friend Sergeant Mahon; how he saved the Sergeant's life and all but lost his own; and how as a result of his efforts he was himself arrested for murder only to be ultimately vindicated are stirringly told in this grand, hundred-thrills-a-minute yarn. "The most popular cowboy character in fiction," is how Truth describes Blue Pete. "Mr. Allan has the technique of the Wild West at his finger tips"-an opinion which is amply confirmed by this rollicking, swift-moving narrative of the great open spaces.

The Story: In this exhilarating, fast-moving yarn, Blue Pete, against the express wish of Inspector Barker of the Royal Mounted Police, sets out to avenge the brutal murder of a rancher and his wife. Once again, relying on his ready wit and the lightning draw of his heavy six-shooter, he justifies his action and beats the murderers-but only after he has found himself in the most desperate situation of his chequered career. "Blue Pete," the critics agree, "is the most famous cowboy in fiction." His reckless, snap-shooting exploits have proved immensely popular in a score of thrilling novels. This new one is the equal of any.

The story: When two hard-case characters rode in from the Badlands, Blue Pete smelt trouble a mile off. Nor was his instinct at fault. Outbreaks of rustling quickly followed the arrival of these men and suspicion turned to certainty when they made for the hills driving Blue Pete's own steers before them. Although a man of peaceful pursuits, Pete reckoned there were some things no man could do to him and get away with, and stealing his cattle was one of them. His half-breed blood afire, he followed in pursuit and plunged blindly into the trap which had been set for him. Quickly he realized that this was not just a rustler's ruse but an ingenious trap laid by an old enemy intent on levelling the score between them. Usually, in such circumstances, a man's only chance is to come out shooting, but this time it didn't work out quite like that. Truth says: "Blue Pete is the most popular of cowboy characters in fiction. . . . Mr. Allan has the technique of the Wild West at his finger-tips."

In this new Luke Allan story Blue Pete, that indomitable half-breed who works in his own fashion to uphold the law guarded by the red-coated Mounties, returns back over the Canadian border to the vast wilderness of canyon and gulch that is the Badlands of Montana. He is trailing a bunch of horse-thieves who have cut into the herds of the Lazy M and on their furtive way back to the border have stolen Whiskers, Blue Pete's celebrated pinto pony. It is war to the death, with Blue Pete's old friend Sergeant Mahon of the Mounties doffing his red coat and following a trail that is blazed by the fury of the half-breed's vengeance.

A bitter enemy of Blue Pete, Bill Scarway, the murderous fast-shooting outlaw, escapes the Mounties to Medicine Hat-to ride, as "Trigger" Sallows, for the Diamond K outfit. Inspector Barker, determined to get the elusive Scarway, dead or alive, asks Blue Pete to help capture him. Blue Pete-his own private score to settle with Scarway-refuses, though he knows that killing and cattle-rustling inevitably follow the outlaw's trail. In the great spring round-up near the Cypress Hills the stage is cunningly set for the show-down. Scarway, ace gunman, faces for the first time on equal terms the death-dealing guns of Blue Pete.