PATROL AT BROKEN FINGER

The sweeping beauty of the land. . . an eye-filling expanse of sky . . . the emotion of men on horseback . . . . Ever vigilant, these frontier veterans wind their way cautiously through southwestern canyon country. Inducted into the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame in 1997, McCarthy shows anew why he is the master of Western drama as well as action.

Cautiously they emerge from the confines of a canyon, beneath uncertain clouds and an ever-expansive sky. This column of cavalry troopers has ridden single file or in a column as they worked their way through the unforgiving terrain. There has been an aura of danger or the threat of ambush at virtually every turn.

Emerging from the canyon, the column persists through the arid heat and relentless dust. Looming above them, the "Broken Finger," nature's chiseled sculpture of now fractured sandstone.