The long, hard years of being an active US Marshal were catching up with Bronco Madigan. Scarred and battered, he had to admit that he was slowing down. He almost died in a hail of bullets because he overlooked one simple fact. Worse still, his rescuer was a greenhorn and trainee marshal, Beaumont T. Kimble. Wealthy and pampered, with a rich father to pull him out of trouble, Kimble was young and aimed to go all the way—at any cost. He was just the kind of sidekick Madigan needed ... like a bullet in the back!