Old Ramon is set in the American Southwest at an indeterminate time, probably around the turn of the present century. This setting is important in all of Schaefer's writings. He often writes about the twilight of the Old West, when the values of the rugged frontier were being supplanted by the domesticated, technological ways of the "civilized" East. Like Schaefer's great fictional creation Shane, Old Ramon represents the last of his kind, one of a dying breed whose character had been molded in an era when the influences of civilization had seemed far away and of little account. This produces a distinct note of sadness in many of Schaefer's stories.

He. regrets the inevitable passing of people like Shane and Ramon, whose attitudes and skills will soon become superfluous as the New West supplants the Old.

Schaefer vividly details the challenges of this Western setting, which is filled...