AFORISMO, who has a sinister proverb for every occasion, is a thin, stooped man whose eyebrows, slanting toward the middle of his forehead, give him a mournful expression. His favorite motto, cut into his razor-sharp knife, is Tripe is sweet but bowels are better.
WALLACE TARANT, Otis Rockland's lawyer, has a broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped frame, a square brow and a wide, thin-lipped mouth which should have held a palpable strength. But his eyes won't meet Crawford's, and his voice is small for such a large man.
SHERIFF ED KENMARE, weary lawman of San Antonio, whose duties hang heavy upon him, has a bulbous nose prominent among heavy, weathered features.
FORD INNES, Cabezablanca's saddlemate, is a red-bearded redhead with shrewd little eyes and a short square body which holds all the lethal threat of a snub-nosed derringer.
AFRICANO, a big black devil of a horse, is a killer nobody has been able to break. Just the thought of him drives Crawford into a trembling frenzy of fear, but he knows he must conquer Africano or go crazy.
What this Story is about—
Being caught, bloody gun in hand, leaning over the body of the man he had threatened to kill forces bronc-buster Glenn Crawford to turn up at the Big O ranch, a weary, footsore fugitive with more than one score to settle.
Even the murder of the ranch owner in San Antonio had not prepared Crawford for the state of affairs he finds at the ranch. His sudden presence there seems to scare some of the crew half to death and lead others to try to kill him every chance they get.
For the moment, however, Crawford is more interested in the state of affairs in his own body than in those of the Big O and the murderer he is sure the ranch harbors. A veteran of the saddle, Crawford discovers that since an accident which he suspects was planned, he goes into a frenzy of pain and trembling panic whenever he gets near a horse. But in spite of the torture it costs him, Crawford stays on at the ranch. He knows he cannot be a free man until he finds the murderer of Otis Rockland. Nor can he be a whole man until he conquers the black devil of a killer horse, Africano. After he meets Merida Lopez, an exotic beauty whose presence at the Big O is surrounded by mystery, he has a third motive for staying around, although he stands to lose his reason if not his life.