The Bells of San Juan

THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST

Alan LeMay will forever be known as the author of the brilliant novels that became the classic films The Searchers and The Unforgiven. But his short stories are no less memorable. Beginning in the 1920s, LeMay was a frequent contributor of Western stories to magazines such as Collier's and The Saturday Evening Post. The best of these stories, unavailable for many years, are collected here. Among the selections is "The Little Kid," perhaps LeMay's most touching story, a poignant tale of a young boy who is orphaned when his father is killed on a cattle drive. Few writers could match LeMay's skill in evoking the full range of emotion in his characters—wonderful, living people who fill the pages of this collection with the heart and spirit of the Old West.