The Outlaws of Echo City

De: Mike Willoughby

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Jed (Slim) McAllister moved to the western slope of Colorado, trying to put behind him a past, in which he killed a man and badly wounded another. He bought a cattle ranch and developed it into a large, prosperous spread. The Outlaws of Echo City is a novel that chronicles the events of life on the ranch and in and around the small town of Echo City and the surrounding White River Valley. Slim's problems begin when an old man, his three sons and one daughter buy a neighboring ranch. Slim learns that the old man, Hank Murdock, was the man he had wounded in Texas years earlier. Hank and his sons Billy, Duke, and Butch (Ironjaw) are rustlers, robbers and murderers, who will stop at nothing to drive Slim from his ranch. Grace Murdock, on the other hand resents the lifestyle of her father and brothers and resists every chance she gets. Slim is forced to kill young Billy Murdock at the annual Fourth of July picnic in Echo City. Old man Murdock vows revenge and secures the services of a hired gun to discreetly kill Slim. Slim is further distressed when he finds out one of his young hands has been sneaking over to the Double Diamond Bar Ranch and secretly meeting with Grace Murdock. Along the way Slim must deal with a dry summer, a water dam mysteriously blown up, missing cattle, and a range fire which occurs under suspicious circumstances. After several months of taunting, the Flying W hands visit the Double Diamond Bar Ranch late one night without Slim's knowledge and booby trap the ranch, which results in a lot of good laughs for the hands, but only increases the tension between the two ranches. Slim learns of the Murdock's plan to hijack a gold shipment and his attempt to thwart it results in one of his hands being killed. Murdock makes one final attempt at revenge when he kidnaps and holds Slim's girl, Victoria, in exchange for the Flying W's water rights. Slim finally puts his plan to expose the Murdock crimes into action with the help of Sheriff McNulty. A final shootout ensues with the Murdocks.. Hook is captured and later hanged in Echo City in dramatic fashion.Slim finally gets up enough nerve to ask Victoria to marry him and when he does, he finally discovers the answer to a riddle that has haunted him for years, the secret behind Echo's City's name