Ralph Moody

Ralph faces bankruptcy or working off balances. He finds a way to turn tragedy into opportunity.

At age thirteen Ralph "Little Britches" Moody moves with his mother, Mary Emma, and five siblings to Massachusetts.

Prior to the Civil War, the fastest mail between the West Coast and the East took almost thirty days by stagecoach along a southern route through Texas. Some Californians feared their state would not remain in the Union, separated so far from the free states. Then businessman William Russell invested in a way to deliver mail between San Francisco and the farthest western railroad, in Saint Joseph, Missouri-across two thousand miles of mountains, deserts,...

Ralph trys hard as a city boy, without much luck so he is sent to his grandfathers farm.

Ralph is ordered by his doctor to seek a more healthful climate, West.

Little Britches becomes the "man" in his family after his father's early death, taking on the concomitant responsibilities as well as opportunities. During the summer of his twelfth year he works on a cattle ranch in the shadow of Pike's Peak, earning a dollar a day. Little Britches is tested against seasoned cowboys on the range and in the corral. He drives cattle through a dust storm, eats his weight in flapjacks, and falls in love with a blue outlaw...