The War Trail by Gordon Landsborough

Four men are crawling across the desert with a desperate need for water.  They tangled with the Shoshone Indians and lost their horses.  The Indians aren't after them anymore but they will die soon with no water.  The worst part is the monster after them.  They carry a secret and he's determined to have it...

Pioneering Press shared a copy of this book with me for review (thank you).  It's available now for purchase.

The four men each have a quarter of a gold piece that tells them with the four words where the inheritance is buried.  Someone is picking them off and then gathering those quarters.  He colors himself blue and wears a witch doctor's mask.  He's ruthless and deadly.

When a young cowboy hits town on foot, all he's looking for is a new horse.  Someone played a trick on him and it broke his horse's leg.  He's not in a good humor and he gets worse when he hears what they are saying about him.  Without any intention of doing it, he finds himself in a ring for a fight.  He took out the champion with one hit so now he has to do the fight.  He manages to survive and convinces the saloon owner to give him a horse.  Before he gets out of town, he meets a grieving girl and hears of her father's death.  He got to town but didn't last much longer.  She's clueless about where his inheritance may be, but she knows he had one to share with her.  Dave decides to ride the War Trail for her and get it back.

With that man made monster on the loose and Indians around, it's not a safe trip.  There's gunplay, murder, and an all out Indian attack before the issue is settled.  The best part is that he gets the girl in the end.  Dave was a big man with a good punch and he needed that strength to survive.