Life and adventures of "Billy" Dixon of Adobe Walls, Texas panhandle

The narrative traces a frontier life from orphaned boyhood and westward migration to years as a buffalo hunter and scout. It recounts establishment of a hunting camp at Adobe Walls, a massive dawn attack by Plains Indians and the author's wounded fall, a famed long-range shot, and a later desperate fight at Buffalo Wallow that led to a Congressional Medal of Honor for survivors. Interleaved are episodes of scouting with the army, rescues and marches across waterless plains, practical pioneer labor, and later domestic years building a homestead, planting an orchard, serving as postmaster and local official, and reflecting on the changing ranching country.