The author of The Impudent Rifle has written another lively historical novel, which has already appeared in the S.E.P. under the title, Comanche Attack. Alexander Prince, captain of the U. S. dragoons, has orders to survey ""the restless border"" between the United States and the newly born Texan Republic, orders which lead him to an eventual showdown with the treacherous Beauchamp and the Comanches. His personal troubles revolve about a childish commander, his dead wife's sister who at sixteen loves him, the older Mary Millard whom he marries eventually and who searches for her lost son among the Comanches only to learn of his death, and most of all his own grief at the loss of his wife. Other characters include the brilliant, proud young officer who in the pinch saves Prince and courts his sister-in-law, the young Polish lad who discovers a new loyalty and a pride in teaching his brawny friend Purdy to read so that he may become a corporal, Prince's daughter Sarah and the Comanche-bred Samuel. Pleasant reading -- the touch is satisfying if not original, and gives place to moods and action.