The Devil's Hatband

About the Book

Theme: How he bears himself among others is the gauge of a man¡¦s worth to himself. Michael O¡¦Rourke, a young Texan, in 1876, is fleeing back into the United States from Mexico where he has been a fugitive after his home in Texas was destroyed and his family massacred during the Civil War. He intends to head west vowing to bury his painful years as a refugee in Mexico where as a teenager he learned quick that three things kept you alive: liquor, women, and a fast gun. Now a man in his twenties he loathes that life and swears once more to live by the creed his grandmother¡Xshe who raised him when his mother died young¡Xwho had drilled into him ¡§how you bear yourself among others is a gage of a man¡¦s worth to himself. He crosses the border into the USA near Nogales where camped in the desert one night he is unexpectedly accosted by territorial Sheriff George Burly, searched by Faro, Burly¡¦s cohort, accused of theft because of three pieces of gold found on him, and thrown in jail in the small town of Soda Springs charged with robbery of Don Carlos a local Spanish grandee. In an attempt to break jail O¡¦Rourke assaults the Sheriff¡¦s deputy but the escape effort fails and O¡¦Rourke¡¦s life is saved by Donƒga Inez Sheriff Burly¡¦s common-law wife. Donƒga Inez has a small son, Eduardo. Don Carlos¡¦ entourage enters Soda Springs joining the already early morning arrivals from around the country who have come to see the hanging. The grandee, an aged Spaniard of pure blood and a Patroƒgn, is in truth a relic of the splendid days past but still respected and a large land owner. Don Carlos¡¦s wife Rose who was home when the robbery took place examines O¡¦Rourke, says he is not the thief. O¡¦Rourke is stunned to see that Rose is an Anglo his own age, and he is strongly drawn to her. The Sheriff, infuriated, tells Rose she is mistaken, that O¡¦Rourke is the thief. Don Carlos now also suggests O¡¦Rourke is innocent. A bullheaded man who has always believed in the simplicity of black and white and cannot change, the Sheriff draws his revolver to force O¡¦Rourke to confess. This act throws the situation into disorder and on signal from Don Carlos a knife thrown by Ramoƒgn his foreman, drives the Sheriff¡¦s shot wild, wounding one of Rose¡¦s carriage horses. Quick action by O¡¦Rourke prevents a carriage disaster. Don Carlos orders young vaquero Joseƒg to shoot the wounded horse, but Joseƒg refuses; punishment is ordered for disobeying by his father Ramoƒgn but Don Carlos says, ¡§No, Ramoƒgn, that one has the kindness of his dead mother in his heart, let him keep it he will lose it soon enough.¡¨ Don Carlos, to show his gratitude, invites O¡¦Rourke to supper at the local hotel. Since a sand storm looms, O¡¦Rourke goes first to the stable to look after his horse. There, Captain Sean Gaylord, commanding a cavalry troop, is just arriving ahead of the storm. Captain Gaylord is a Civil War veteran, a southerner who, though he fought for the north, is now banished to the western frontier. During his association with this officer O¡¦Rourke is soon to learn that the true measure of this man with his soldier¡¦s stance, his swagger stick, his corrupt ideas of honor, his florid rhetoric, is that he can instantly command the respect of the west¡¦s violent frontiersmen. Gaylord now demands exclusive use of the stable for his horses. O¡¦Rourke refuses to move his horse and a confrontation results that shows the fast draw of O¡¦Rourke¡Xwhich puts the mark of a gunslinger on him again, a mark he hates. Everyone in town takes refuge in the local hotel from the sandstorm. There, Gaylord offers O¡¦Rourke safe conduct from the town if he, O¡¦Rourke, will agree to help Gaylord in a shady deal. O¡¦Rourke spurns Gaylord¡¦s offer. Sanchea, a foreman of Don Carlos, battered by the sand storm, staggers into the hotel and before dying tells of an attack by Apaches on Vista Hermosa, Don Carlos¡¦ ranch. Don

About the Author

Hugh A MacLean is a native North Westerner born in Oregon in the vast North West’s rugged Coast Range. Here, he finds his quality of life amongst giant fir, spruce and cedar, earth’s mentors that have held a preeminent position for thousands of years. Mr. MacLean has written a book about a young man who in 1860, his Texas home destroyed and his family killed when Civil War Blue Belly’s convicted his father of being a Copper Head, sought refuge in Mexico; how now, the war over, he seeks new frontiers in America’s West.