Vereda Valley looked like a green Eden -- but blazing guns, poisoned water, and dynamite were turning it into an inferno of death. Ranchers and nesters teetered on the brink of bloody battle -- and Ranger Walt Slade laid his neck on the line to make peace. But a man who"s not on one side or the other in a range war is fair game for both -- and Slade"s welcome to the valley was written in lead and gunsmoke.