GLENN CRAWFORD, whose pallor and feverishly glowing eyes mark the three
months he has just spent in a hospital as the result of an accident
he suspects was planned, has the restless animal lines of body and
negligible hips of one who has been much in the saddle. Hotheaded, once
fearless, he is presently trying to overcome an unreasoning panic and
pain which rack his body whenever he goes near a horse.
MERIDA LOPEZ, whose presence at the Big O ranch is surrounded by
mystery, has a faintly exotic beauty and slumberous, provocative eyes
which both irritate Crawford and stir something primal in him. He
isn't sure of her game, but he knows a woman like Merida doesn't trail
through the wild brush country just for the scenery.
DR. FELIZ HUERTA, who looks as though he's in the process of
disintegration, has strongly arched brows and a graying peak of hair
which gives him a satanic cast. His eyes hold a dull, jaded lackluster,
and even the slightest movement seems to cost him infinite effort. For
his own reasons, he is extremely interested in Crawford's symptoms.
QUARTEL, come to wind up affairs at the Big O, is a huge hunk of thick
brown flesh with sensual lips and shoulders like sides of beef. He
boasts he can rope better, ride farther, drink more and cuss dirtier
than any hombre between Texas and Mexico City.
OTIS ROCKLAND, whom Crawford makes no bones about hating, is the
owner of the Big O. As Crawford looks at it, Rockland's dealings with
Crawford's pal, old Delcazar, were no less dirty for being legal.
DELCAZAR, who fears his friend Crawford is mixed up in the most
dangerous thing that ever hit the wild brush country, is an aged,
gnarled, and skinny Mexican who lives alone in the back country. He has
rheumy eyes in a face seamed as an old satchel.
CABEZABLANCA, so-called for his head of pure white hair, is one of the
Big O crew. He has a reputation for being deadly dangerous, but for
some reason Huerta seems to have him under his thumb.
JACINTO (LITTLE HYACINTH) DEL RIO, the big, fat, grumbling cook,
listened to his father when he told him there were two sins in the
world, working and fighting, and if he avoided both of them he would
surely go to heaven.
BUENO BAILEY, a tough bronc-buster, gaunt as an alley cat, has milky
eyes, and parts his long yellow hair in the middle, slicking it down
with bacon grease. Crawford suspects him of being responsible for his
"accident."
AFORISMO, who has a sinister proverb for every occasion, is a thin,
stooped man whose eyebrows, slanting toward the middle of his forehead,
give him a mournful expression. His favorite motto, cut into his
razor-sharp knife, is _Tripe is sweet but bowels are better_.
WALLACE TARANT, Otis Rockland's lawyer, has a broad-shouldered,
narrow-hipped frame, a square brow and a wide, thin-lipped mouth
which should have held a palpable strength. But his eyes won't meet
Crawford's, and his voice is small for such a large man.
SHERIFF ED KENMARE, weary lawman of San Antonio, whose duties hang
heavy upon him, has a bulbous nose prominent among heavy, weathered
features.
FORD INNES, Cabezablanca's saddlemate, is a red-bearded redhead with
shrewd little eyes and a short square body which holds all the lethal
threat of a snub-nosed derringer.
AFRICANO, a big black devil of a horse, is a killer nobody has been
able to break. Just the thought of him drives Crawford into a trembling
frenzy of fear, but he knows he must conquer Africano or go crazy.