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A while back I posted my own small overview of John Benteen’s Fargo series HERE and asked if anyone knew of any I might have missed to let me know. Brian Elliott posted a comment about this book that I had in fact missed. Thanks for the heads up, Brian!
It falls between GRINGO GUNS, the third Fargo by John W. Hardin, and THE BORDER JUMPERS. It must be a very rare volume as I paid more than I probably should have just to complete the series, but nowhere near the price of the few volumes still available on the used book sites. Three copies all ask $99.99 plus s&h.
Fargo is on foot in Idaho, having had to put his horse down after it’s breaking a leg. He leaps aboard a passing freight train below him and is immediately attacked by the crew when he tries to buy a ride with his last twenty dollars. The Continental-Western line does not allow passengers, even paying ones, on their freight trains.
He rides into Junction Flats holding the crew under his gun until he can get off. The small town is being buffaloed by Hawk Morrison, the C-W’s man in charge, and, when Fargo easily handles the railroad detective sent after him, he offers the soldier-of-fortune a job.
Fargo turns it down, though he’s broke, having taken a dislike to the man and his methods. With the kind of money being offered, there will be another side
He gets caught up in a battle between Morrison and a small railroad hauling silver and lead ores from a silver mine thirty miles away. They have a percentage deal that earns them $3,000 a day and Morrison wants it. That kind of money is music to Fargo’s ears and he hires on as a troubleshooter.
The tale showcases Fargo in fistfights, knife fights, and gun battles, all things at which he’s quite good. Throw in the requisite beautiful young woman and we get a satisfying novel.
That makes twenty-three novels in the series and I believe that may be all.
