4 JULY 1914, Page 34

The Vanguard. By E. B. Bronson. (Hodder and Stoughton. 63.)—This

entertaining volume deals with gamblers and road agents, "bad men" and cowboys, poker games and mining ventures. The crack of the revolver and of the stock-whip sounds throughout its pages. The author himself was on the side of law and order, and claims to have been one of "that vanguard of unlettered and unsung heroes, who as stage-coach messengers, treasure guards and marshals" daily staked their lives in a battle with "noxious social weeds," and helped to pacify the early trails and towns of the Middle West.