Few writers have been as celebrated as Owen Wister because of his book and stage play--The Virginian. A lawyer who left Philadelphia to go west and in Wyoming learned enough to create one of the unforgetable characters in Western literature. Yes, he beat Zane Grey by nearly 10 years with that publication, but he never reached Grey's status. These two stories are not given any publication date in this collection so when they were written and published the first time there is no way of knowing from this book. A Pilgrim On the Gila has an Easterner sight-seeing in Arizona Territory who becomes involved in a stage hold up by recognizing the two bandits, but the law neither seems interested in catching them nor in recovering the stolen gold. And to make it worse not even in wanting to protect the witness. La Tinaja Bonita tells the story of a man who will risk his life to see his sweetheart by crossing the high desert at a time when the waterholes are all dry. But there is more than the lack of water he has to combat--Does his sweetheart still care for him? These two stories are worth reading.
