Louis L’Amour. Westward the Tide. (1977) Matt Bardoul signs on with a wagon train despite whispered warnings conveyed to him in the darkened livery stable. One of the two main organisers of the trek has evil designs on the settlers and their wealth. There’s betrayals and fistfights and gunfights and such, but in the end Matt defeats the enemy and wins the girl. All very satisfactory.
L’Amour allows himself some extended ruminations on the history of settlement in the West. Like many commentators of the time, he thought of the West as empty country, and idealises the hardy pioneers who created a productive agricultural paradise out of windswept prairie. The story and these ruminations alternate, which makes for an odd experience: I wanted him to get on with it, and untangle the plot knots. Not his best work. **
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