They peered out the window to see Terence Colby approaching Le Sangre from the river road. The horse launched up the slope after the rider gave to the side and sprang with supple elegance. His forward-facing ear suggested that he was unsure of what was ahead of him but would make an effort to stay vigilant. Dinner at the Cornish ranch was a disaster since the board was crowded with early visitors for the celebrations the next day. They were carefully selected by Elizabeth from families that had known her father, Henry Cornish, while he was building his wealth in the Rockies. Terence led the cavalry while riding El Sangre, a bright red streak, while Vance took the head of the wagon party.
The few hours that had passed since Terry Hollis was fired from the ranch that morning felt like they had been compressed into a half-life. The assassination of Larrimer made the morning's hesitation even clearer than it had been previously. Slim Dugan believed that his honor was at stake, thus he was prepared to fight and die. A single snide word or side glance directed at Terry would have been enough to trigger a shooting. Everyone was aware of it.
Frederick Faust (May 29, 1892 - May 12, 1944) was an American writer known basically for his Western stories using the pen name of Max Brand. Faust made the well-known fictitious character of He wrote the character of young Dr. James Kildare for a series of fiction stories. Faust's other pen names were George Owen Baxter, Evan Evans, George Evans, Peter Dawson, David Monitoring, John Frederick, Peter Morland, George Challis, Peter Ward, Frederick Faust, and Frederick Frost. During mid-1944, when Faust, Frank Gruber, and fellow writer Steve Fisher were working at Warner Brothers, they frequently had discussions during evenings, alongside a Colonel Nee, who was a specialized advisor sent from Washington, D.C. One day, accused of whiskey, Faust discussed getting assigned to a company of foot troopers so he could encounter the war and later compose a war novel. Colonel Nee said he could fix it for himself and half a month after the fact he did, getting Faust a task for Harper's Magazine as a war reporter in Italy. While going with American warriors battling in Italy in 1944, Faust was injured mortally by shrapnel.
