Sun-Dog trails

Sun-Dog trails by W. C. Tuttle is a Western novel written in the early 20th century. It blends action and mystery as easygoing cowboys Brick Davidson and “Silent” Slade stumble into a stagecoach holdup and then nose into the truth behind it, despite an ornamental, ineffectual sheriff. A masked woman, a murdered stage-driver, and a newly arrived ranch family—Scott Martin and his daughter Jean—draw them into a tangle of clues, rivalries, and old grudges. The opening of the story finds Brick and Silent in a runaway-wagon crash that smashes into a stage already being robbed by two masked men and a masked woman. After the robbers take an iron box and vanish, the cowboys report to Sheriff “Bunty” Blair, whose slick office and weak backbone inspire little confidence. Brick later finds a cryptic note addressed to Scott Martin, visits Martin’s Weeping Tree ranch (meeting Jean and noting a .45-70 on the wall), and hears Silent recall past Idaho ties that also brush the gambler King Cleeve. When driver Limpy Squires turns up shot in the back, Bunty pressures Brick and his friends, but Brick fakes a drunken spree to bait King Cleeve and Topaz Tyler into stealing a decoy note. Slipping back to the canyon, Brick tracks the robbers’ prints and discovers the strongbox still hidden—gold unopened and three black masks inside—before confronting Scott and Jean with the found note as the scene closes.

Sun-Dog trails, by W. C. Tuttle. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #78756.