In those days, Texas was a huge wide place full of frontiersmen, ranchers, farmers, cowpokes, shiftless no-accounts, shootists, rascals, and politicians -- all of them blended together into a single state. The Rangers -- lawmen, Texas Rangers -- were outnumbered a thousand to one and in one county -- Pecos county -- the law was all but helpless. Until Ranger Vaughn Steel went to Pecos, looking for revenge. . . .