"From the Mississippi River to the California shore, from the Rio Grande to the Canadian border, folks talked of Slaughter's way. They did not mean a cattle trail, a road between two towns or a famous street in a city. They meant the way a medium-sized Texas rancher looked at life and handled its problems. Slaughter said exactly what he meant, and did exactly what he said he'd do. So when John Slaughter told Big Tag he'd kill him where he stood, he aimed to do just that."