The Hash Knife Outfit

by Zane Grey Book 2 in the Drift Fence series.

First published 1933

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An outlaw who wants to leave crime behind becomes involved with two women threatened by a rustling outfit in Arizona’s Mogollon country. Protecting them requires him to use the same hard skills that once kept him alive among criminals, even as he tries to prove that violence no longer defines his loyalties.

The conflict develops around cattle theft and control of the range, where organised rustlers can exploit distance and weak enforcement. His attempt at reform is therefore inseparable from the practical need to confront men who understand only force, making the possibility of an honest future depend on how he handles one last violent struggle.