Six Bits a Day (The Hewey Calloway Novels Book 3)

Hewey Calloway, a prominent cowboy character in Western fiction, returns in this novel set during his younger years. In 1889, Hewey and his brother Walter leave their family farm to seek work in West Texas cow country. The brothers are opposites: Walter desires a settled life as a farmer with a wife and children, while Hewey is a restless cowboy working for six bits—75 cents—a day on C.C. Tarpley's Pecos River ranch. Hewey is fun-loving and whiskey-drinking, spending his earnings freely and frequently clashing with his boss and occasionally the law, often involving Walter in his troubles. When Walter falls in love with a boarding house girl and considers pursuing a farming life, Hewey convinces him to join a cattle drive for Tarpley, moving 600 head of cattle from beyond San Antonio to the Double-C ranch on the Pecos. The journey proves both memorable and dangerous: a murderous outlaw hunts Hewey, and another ruthless character seeks to sabotage the drive. Upon reaching the Pecos, the brothers discover Tarpley embroiled in a range feud with neighboring cowman Eli Jessup. Hewey and Walter must navigate getting the herd safely across Jessup's land. This novel precedes the events of Kelton's The Good Old Boys (1978) and The Smiling Country (1998).