Clarence E. Mulford was the author of Hopalong Cassidy, with his other stories and 28 novels followed by radio, feature film, television, and comic book versions. While many of his stories depicted Cassidy and other men of the Bar-20 ranch, he also wrote novels (and short stories) of other Westerners, starting with Johnny Nelson. He also wrote nonfiction, mostly about the West, the outdoors, and motoring. Red Connors uncrossed his legs, picked his hat from the floor, and arose. He was grinning reminiscently, as well he might: to Red, any episode concerning the earlier life and activities of his friend Hopalong Cassidy was something set apart in value and sentiment from all other things; and Red knew more about Hopalong's earlier days than any other man on the ranch. He studied me for an instant, nodded cheerfully, and strode slowly toward the door. Then he stopped and turned. "Well, that's th' story," he said, and the smile grew. He hitched up his belts instinctively, and his blue eyes twinkled in his freckled face. "They grew 'em tough, down in that country, in that day," he added and then swung through the doorway. The story he had just told me was one that I do not wish to forget in any of its details, and to that end I shall here write it down. I had heard fragments of it before, and many allusions to it, and I had gathered the idea that whenever action happened it had happened swiftly. Now Red had welded it into its complete form and continuity. The time to do a thing is to do it now, and now it shall be done. Here's the story.