A LAND TO TAME by Ross, Zola

Indianapolis, 1956, Bobbs-Merrill, first US edition, hard bound in dust jacket, VG/VG- ( some small chips and tears to DJ on spine), 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, 266 pp. Rush Paxton went from Massachusetts to fight in the Mexican War. When it was over, he had drifted on west, looking for something which could engage his whole interest. In the 1850's he was east of the mountains in Washington Territory, serving as a civilian scout with the Army at Fort Simcoe in the Yakima Valley.The unsubjugated Yakima Indians held the land by treaty. White settlers were forbidden to come in, but they were drawn by the opportunities the country promised. A smart man, they reasoned, could make a pot of money if he was on the spot when the country opened. A number slipped in, in spite of the troops, and some of them were picked off by the Indians.This was the way things stood when Theophilus Yates and his daughter drove ii h to the fort in a peddler's wagon. Not a» Indian had molested them, and this struck Rush Paxton as a suspicious circumstance. Yates was a dubious type and might have an understanding with the Indians. He was knifed inside the fort before explaining himself.Somehow the arrival of the Yateses makes the whole kettle of potential trouble boil harder, with the Army detachments sitting uneasily on the lid. All the young men are courting Veronica. The older men are scheming about money. Somebody-no one knows who -is stirring up the Indians. A big war in the spring is everybody's prediction. A good war would end the treaty and open the country even if the white men take a licking. Of course some people will be dead, but the others can make hay.Rush Paxton is cool and sure-footed in all this, and Veronica, although new to Indian country, handles herself by intuition. A Land to Tame moves fast, with intrigue and action, love and danger that keep the pages turning. Who instigated the Indian war? Where was Theophilus Yates? It all comes out at the end of a heady, exciting story.