There was only one way Buck Madrid could get his herd to market—and that was over Vern Cotton’s land. To push the boundaries of his cattle empire across the river, Madrid brought hired guns to the Rio Chama and built them into a gunslick army to drive Vern Cotten from his ranch. But there was one professional gun Madrid couldn’t buy—not for the chicken feed he was willing to part with. That was how Nat Stryker came to fight for Vern Cotton’s ranch … and for all the cattle kingdom his blazing guns could seize! All his life, Stryker had fought and killed for a price, and this time he was out to take the biggest prize of all.