A HARD TRAIL AHEADSixteen-year-old orphan Tyrell Breen means to become a cowboy, just like the ones he's read about in the half-dime novels, so he sets out for San Antonio, where his Uncle Cliff has a ranch. On the way, he runs afoul of a gambler and is robbed of his money and his horse, and shows up at Cliff's ranch a mighty sorry sight...but not as sorry as Cliff himself, who's been neglecting pretty much everything lately—except his whiskey bottle. Cliff had built up quite a reputation years before as a trail boss, and that's good enough for a neighboring rancher, who asks Cliff to boss a trail drive for him and get his cattle to market. Even as he accepts the job, Cliff knows he'll face more than the usual dangers and hardships of the trail—he'll have to tend to young Tyrell along the way...and he'll have to give up drinking if he wants to stay alive.