Hondo
(Book)

Hondo Lane was a big, strong man, a tough man, unstoppable in a fight, but he was not a cruel man. Now, with the Apaches on the warpath, he finds a young woman and her son living in a ranch that is slowly going to pieces. Her husband is a degenerate who spends much of his time at the local fort cheating at cards and rustling cattle. Hondo must deal with the Indians, good and bad, in an effort to save the young woman from their depredations - half-Apache himself, he knows the ways of the desert. In the midst of armed chaos, his rugged individualism and might must save the day.