Last Stand at Papago Wells

This was a pretty good historical fiction genre novel, telling a story of a group of civilians and soldiers trapped at a water source in the desert, with a group of Apache warriors penning them in and picking them off one by one. Much of this story is about the way the trapped people interact, rather than about gunfighting. The characters are pretty realistic, and while I dislike how they treat Jennifer, one of the trapped women, as if she is a parcel to be grabbed, rather than a person who has a say as to what man she marries and what sort of life she wants. She gets a lot of grief for wanting to move East and live in a town, abandoning ranching as something not for her, and the hero announces to her dad at the end that he is marrying show more her without her having ever actually accepted him, and without his having actually talked with her about it before. Still, the women in this book are pretty strong characters, and the men are not as annoyingly sexist as they could be, without really resulting in anachronistic gender-relations. show less

Apache's are on the warpath in southern Arizona and multiple groups crossing the desert. As this area of Arizona is very dry, there are only a few places to get water and Papago Wells is one. Multiple groups of travelers end up at Papago Wells and the Apache's arrive to make their lives worse. While dealing with infighting in the groups, Logan Cates must figure out how to help the groups survive the attacks. In the end only five people ride away.

I enjoyed the book. It's a quick read and a classic L'Amour tale.

An interesting L'Amour western - first published, at least my copy, in 1957, so it's written somewhere between "Hondo" and the Duke walking into the very boots L'Amour wrote about, and then strangely, L'Amour writing into the boots the Duke wore on the screen.
In this novel, a mess of soldiers, gamblers, miners, outlaws and one lone gunman (he's a lone gunman with a strong preachin' streak, this is L'Amour people!) all meet up at Papago Wells, the biggest waterhole in the Arizona desert, some thirty miles south of Yuma one night. Indians, specifically Apaches, follow the Outcasts of Papago Wells to the tank, and because they are Apaches or it's Sunday, or a L'Amour, the Apaches try to kill everyone of course.
Yet Last Stand, as I said is show more no ordinary L'Amour - complications about. L'Amour spends ample time (alright, ample time for a man that uses cardboard cutouts for characters) to flesh out the men stuck a Papago. Each character - the gambler and his fiancee, the runaway girl, the gunman, the four soldiers, the lawman and the outlaws - faces a psychological break during the siege. Logan Cates, the lone gunman and L'Amour hero, has to worry more about the men covering his back than the Apaches in the desert, and there is the value of this L'Amour western. Does Logan survive to win the girl? Of course he survives and gets the girl, it's L'Amour! How? I won't reveal that.

I'll just say, it's called calvary, and they show up. And the Apaches? Never actually seen, they are just brown desert ghosts - though L'Amour spends a page describing the war party and leader, not once does he build up to a major fight - it's like he got sidetracked...actually, it works here, and works well. show less

The first Western I've read. I enjoyed it well enough that I expect to read more L'Amour. It's nothing to knock my socks off, but the writing's solid and the characters are strong (if cliched). The ending seems like a bit of a cop out, although you'll certainly never see it coming.

A renegade group of Apaches are on the warpath, killing as they go. Meanwhile strangers converge at the only water hole for miles, hoping their numbers will hold off the attacks until help arrives...but will it?

A bit slow starting, but a solid middle and ending to this tale.

Product Description It was the only water for miles in a vast, sun-blasted desert where water meant survival. So Logan Cates naturally headed for Papago Wells. But he wasn’t the only one. Fleeing the fierce Churupati and his Apache warriors, other travelers had come there too. And when the Apaches found them, they began a siege as relentless and unforgiving as the barren land…and just as inescapable. The last thing Cates wanted was to be responsible for the lives of thirteen desperate strangers and a shipment of gold. But he knew that if they were to survive, he was their last chance. He also knew that some in the party were willing to die—or kill—to get their hands on the money. If he couldn’t get them to work together, it show more wouldn’t be the desert or even the Apaches that would do them in—it would be the greed of the very people he was trying to save. From the Publisher Logan Cates knew the many ways the Arizona desert could kill a man. He had ridden the sunblasted dunes, tracked the Apache over barren lava beds, sheltered in the dry washes of this forbidding land. Above all, he knew a man needed water to survive. Cates rode to Papago Wells a few miles ahead of an Apache war party led by the vicious Churupati. There he met a dozen desert wanderers whom chance had led to the only water between Yuma and hell. There they came under siege by the Indians. And there they would make their stand--with little hope of living beyond the next day and only a hard man named Logan Cates to show them how to conquer their true enemy: fear. show less

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