The story is set in the early stages of the Texas revolution. Stephen Austin and his young friend Ned begin the adventure of traveling back to Texas to warn the others of Santa Anna's plan to take his army north. Along the way they will have encounters with the Mexican army, the Native Americans and the Texan cowboys…

Reprint of the original, first published in 1913.

Texas Jack: America’s First Cowboy Star is a biography of John B. “Texas Jack” Omohundro, the first well-known cowboy in America. A Confederate scout and spy from Virginia, Jack left for Texas within weeks of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. In Texas, he became first a cowboy and then a trail boss, jobs that would inform the rest of his life. Jack lead cattle on the Chisholm and Goodnight-Loving trails to New Mexico, California, Kansas and Nebraska. In 1868 he met James B. “Wild Bill” Hickok in Kansas and then William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody in Nebraska at the end of the first major cattle drive to North Platte. Texas Jack and Buffalo Bill became friends, and soon the scout and the cowboy became the subjects of a series of dime novels written by Ned Buntline.

This book is a fictional novel about the events of the Texas Revolution. It is a dramatic retelling of the period with depictions of many of the famous figures involved in the revolution.

Sometimes heroes are disguised as gunslingers . . . and sometimes the most unlikely dreams really can come true.

Joseph A. Altsheler was probably the most popular American author of boys' fiction in the first half of the twentieth century. Although his peak of popularity is past, his novels are frequently listed on ebay and find a ready audience. New printings of his most popular novels are still being issued. Despite his popularity, there has never been a collection of his short stories until now. Many of these short stories are of historical and literary interest to a general and academic audience, particularly in Kentucky where many of his stories are set. The contents of At the Twelfth Hour reflect original research about Altsheler's fiction, as well as nine of his best stories.