Black Diamond Western #19

When Black Diamond and his partner Bumper arrive at the sprawling Marquez ranch in old California for a peaceful vacation, they're welcomed by the generous Senor Marquez—but their rest is shattered when a murdering sailor from a visiting ship sets his sights on the family's priceless Inca gold treasures. As the thief makes his desperate bid to escape with the stolen fortune, Black Diamond pursues him across the ranch and into a perilous chase that culminates in a deadly struggle two hundred feet above the deck of a brigantine anchored in the cove.

When a crooked Black Diamond agent named Guerrier mistreats the Apache people on their reservation, mysterious forces conspire to push them toward rebellion—and seize their valuable grazing land in the chaos. Black Diamond and his companion Bumper stumble onto the truth when they discover a dying man at the abandoned reservation, unmasking a sinister plot by the powerful rancher Mr. Rake to exploit the Apaches' desperation for his own profit. Now the masked lawman must ride hard to Fort Bowie to expose the scheme before a full-scale Indian war consumes the territory.

William Overgard's "Range Livestock" is a fifth installment in Black Diamond Western's educational series on frontier life, surveying the livestock that shaped the American West. From the hardy Texas Longhorn brought over by Spanish conquistadors to the nearly-extinct buffalo that once fed Native peoples by the thousands, this page explores the animals that pioneers depended on for survival, work, and sustenance. You'll also find a breakdown of modern cattle breeds like the Hereford, plus the mules and donkeys that made ranch life possible—complete with a practical guide to the ear and body marks that cattlemen used to brand and identify their herds.