The Muleskinner by Robert MacLeod

The Muleskinner by Robert MacLeod
Fawcett R2253,
Copyright 1967

Way, way back when I was in Junior High, I remember seeing this novel in the school library on one of those rotating paperback racks. Alongside it was Pierre Boulle's "The Bridge over the River Kwai," Jack London's "Smoke Bellew," Audie Murphy's "To Hell and Back," and I recall Eric Williams' "The Wooden Horse"- all were in the form of hard cover paperbacks that school libraries stocked in those days. I read those four, but I never did get around to Robert MacLeod's "The Muleskinner." I've always enjoyed his Westerns and recently obtaining a copy of this one, I opened it up for two days and read it.

"They began to get the stench, sickly, almost tangible on the hot, still air. Up ahead, a dozen buzzards floundered into the air. A million flies were buzzing. Under the trees was a clumsy big carreta, four dead oxen and six dead Mexicans-two men, a women, a young boy, an older girl, and a naked girl child, all torn by the beaks, hideous and bloated. They had all been scalped."

Ben "Ox" Davis runs freight, and can handle mules better than any man in the Arizona territory. He's tough and gets downright brutal when he has to use his fists, but believes in living a honest life having regards for the needs and feelings of others. On one of his hauls he comes upon the aftermath of a stagecoach robbery where it seems all occupants have been shot down. But later he finds two who have survived, one being Gwen Goodfield who Ox falls hard for. At first it looks like renegade Apaches are on a murder spree, but we find out that this is the work of a gang of vicious robbers. Gwen takes up with Ox's rival, Lew Barnes. And now Lew is flashing new money around Tuscon, making town folk suspicious of Lew's nice guy nature. Things really heat up when Ox saves a Mexican kid who was raised by Apaches. The vindictive saloon crowds aren't convinced that the kid is not Apache and want his scalp. Ox has his hands full protecting the kid and making runs with his mule team, not to mention trying to convince Gwen that Lew Barnes is a bum. After Ox's swamper is killed, along with more murderous holdups, and then the kid goes missing - the root cause of all the trouble is discovered and Ox is determined to settle the score.

As always, you get a bit of western education when you read a Robert MacLeod novel. MacLeod captures the hard life of a muleskinner. The toil these men take driving mules to get their heavy loads from one location to another, the history of legally selling Apache scalps, the boom of prosperous growth in the West - it's all in this novel. I liked all that. As for the storyline, I'll call it an average Western. Ox may be vivid and broad, but he is too gaga around Gwen for my type of Western hero. Gwen is so naive that I wanted Ox to give her a good kick in the butt. But if you can overlook that, there is plenty of murder and fisticuffs to make it enjoyable. And the struggle of survival, the excellent descriptions of the dusty drives on the mule wagons, and the subplot revolving around the misidentified Apache kid, are expertly told.

Robert MacLeod is one of my favorite Western authors. Reading his novels you can sense his natural attraction to the West and it's clear that he has done a lot of research. "The Muleskinner" may not be his best work, but it is good and for me worth the read. (After all, I waited over 40 years to get to it)

This is the cover of an earlier paperback edition.
Fawcett Gold Medal D1786

Apache Tears by Robert MacLeod

Apache Tears by Robert MacLeod
Pocket Book, Copyright 1973

I have always been fond of the western novels written by Robert MacLeod. I’ve read them when they were first published and have been revisiting them recently. I have always wondered whatever came of him. Searching, I find little information on the author. I hope he is still with us; his novels are well worth taking a look at.

The black rage took him like a dog with a rat, and shook him almost blind. He began to swear-vile, dirty obscenities he had almost never used, and got the lariat off the saddle and trotted toward the corral. Tomorrow was too long to wait. Eddie Burke had no right to live that long.

In “Apache Tears,” we are introduced to Neil Douglas, a hardened and loyal scout leader for the Cavalry at Camp Verde. Douglas is ending his tour with the army and there has been bad blood between him and the other scout leader, Sergeant Eddie Burke. Things reach a point where Douglas and Burke have it out in a fisticuffs brawl and Douglas, being an ex-boxer, whips him good. Recuperating, Eddie Burke vows retaliation. After his release from the army, The general of the post offers Douglas a job to escort archaeologist, Dr. Garnville Whitman and his daughter Jennie, to the ancient Citadel ruins. The pay is good, so Douglas accepts the offer to lead, make camp, and stay with them for the duration of their studies. As the days wear on, Douglas helps the shy Jennie to stand up to her father and show some independence. Jennie eventually falls for him. Douglas likes the girl, but his past associations with women have mostly been whores, and he’s a bit careful expressing his feelings. (But there is a spark, an affection is there) Eventually Eddie Burke and his albino Indian scout Whitey, arrive to settle things up with Douglas and they plan to do it through Dr. Whitman and the girl. Circumstances have forced Douglas to leave Jennie and her father alone at the site, while Burke advances with thoughts of murder and threats of rape. Enraged by failing to protect Jennie, Neil Douglas is now alone where he is at his best, and vows revenge seeking the impious Burke and Whitey.

Robert MacLeod as always, gives the reader an excellent insight on the western way of life. He shows how this life was hard and uncertain, especially with the dangers encountered by army scout leaders and the Indians who work under them. Through the character of Jennie, we see a girl of society who came west, and must be shaded from the harsh life and ills that women here resort to. The relationship between Jennie and Neil is wonderfully told. Jennie -who finally loses her shyness and can now express herself; and Neil -who teaches her how to do this but can’t express his own feelings to her. MacLeod likes to mix real western figures in his stories. In this one we have General George Crook, Mickey Free (who pops up in many MacLeod novels) and even a later reference to George Custer. There is the constant conflict between Douglas and Burke, which carries over between the Indian scouts that they lead. These were tough seasoned men, who must be brutal to survive alone in this hostile territory.

The bodies would be stinking too much if they lay in the heat all day tomorrow. “Let the coyotes have them!” “No” Neil said, “The smell isn’t anything new to you. Major Trumbull won’t believe us, without the bodies.”…Later the Apache scouts lugged the sacks over and dumped out five tangled-haired, bloody Apache heads.” Chalk Eye said in Spanish, “You think Major Trumbull will believe these?”

This is another Robert MacLeod western that I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly entertaining and well written. For some reason, it seems he’s been an underrated author and overshadowed by others. I never understood why. Robert MacLeod's western novels were some of the best published during the 60s and 70s.

Known westerns by Robert MacLeod:

The Appaloosa (1963) Gold Medal
The Californio (1966) Gold Medal
The Muleskinner (1967) Gold Medal
The Running Gun (1969) Gold Medal
Ambush at Junction Rock (1970) Gold Medal
Six Guns South (1972) Gold Medal
Apache Tears (1973) Pocket Book
Feather in the Wind (1976) Pocket Book

The Appaloosa by Robert MacLeod

The Appaloosa by Robert MacLeod.
Gold Medal s1330, Copyright 1963

Having seen the Brando movie many times, I decided to give the novel a read. I wasn't expecting anything great, I was wrong. The Appaloosa is a marvelous novel.
Matt Fletcher is a buffalo hunter, fighting off the Comanche and Cheyenne at Adobe Walls. He pulls out with an Appaloosa pony taken from a dead Comanche, which he plans to stud on his ranch.
Chuy Medina, a Mexican gun-hawk, admires the pony and wants it. Fletcher ragged from his journey from Adobe Walls, shows the power of the buffalo gun to change Chuy's mind. Eventually, Chuy steals the pony off his ranch to save face. Fletcher sets out on a journey to retrieve the horse and his dignity.

It's a wonderful story. From the Texas Panhandle to the deserts of Mexico, descriptions of the landscape are beautifully told. MacLeod historically tells of the Battle at Adobe Walls, using men who actually fought the battle in the story. What makes "The Appaloosa" special is how Fletcher confronts relationships. Relationships between a man against a man, a man hoping for prosperity through the pony and a relationship between Fletcher and Trini, a Mexican whore-which is heartwarming. Traveling to Mexico and returned to Texas with the pony, we see Fletcher fighting inner conflicts within himself. During the final "shoot out", we witness him confronting them.

Plenty of action and violence in the novel. Which is pretty descriptive for the date it was written.

I believe, Robert MacLeod only wrote a handful of western books. I grab them, when I see them.

Note: As for the movie, The novel (as always) is better.