Fire brands

"Fire Brands" by W. C. Tuttle is a Western adventure novel written in the early 20th century. It centers on two easygoing but capable cowhands, Sad Sontag and Swede Harrigan, who stumble into a murky sheriff’s sale of the Bar S ranch, a missing herd, and a tangle of grudges in the cow-town of Oreana. Their allies and foils include tough saloonkeeper Bunty O’Neil, prickly Box 8 boss Bill Wyatt, the wary Sheriff Buck Rainey, and a scrappy orphan, Speck Steeb. Expect fast talk, fistfights, and a rustling mystery with humor threaded through the action.

The opening of the novel finds Sad and Swede raising harmless mischief in a saloon, noticing a notice for the upcoming Bar S sheriff’s sale, and befriending Speck Steeb and his dog after Sad floors Bill Wyatt for bullying the boy. Hoping to buy stock, they ride with the sheriff to the Bar S pasture and discover the gathered herd has vanished through a cut fence, sparking talk of rustling; later Sad decks Bunty O’Neil when the saloonman tries his notorious head-butt. Meanwhile, old Eph Wyatt offers to adopt Speck but is ambushed on the road; Speck fires at the attackers and races to town on Swede’s horse, while Sad and Swede quietly rescue the wounded Eph, leaving the posse baffled by the missing “body.” That night the partners outwit Bill’s attempt to eavesdrop at the hotel and, by morning, while hunting cattle, are caught roping a Box 8 steer just as the sheriff and Bill ride up—ending with the released steer charging and trouble about to break loose. (This is an automatically generated summary.)