Introduction
WHILE SMOKE ROLLED. Featuring Breckinridge Elkins. A known early draft of this story is a Pike Bearfield story, not a Breckinridge Elkins story. It is not known who made the character change, Howard or Otis Adelbert Kline.
An early list of REH stories that Kline had included a story titled WHILE THE SMOKE ROLLED. It is unknown if the Kline list is in error or the published story title. The appearance in THE SUMMIT COUNTY JOURNAL has the character name changed to “Breckenridge Elkins,” to be like the town it was published in.
The early Pike Bearfield draft was first published in THE ROBERT E. HOWARD FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER.
Alternate title:
Published in:
- DOUBLE-ACTION WESTERN VOLUME 24 NUMBER 2, Columbia Publications, December 1956
- THE SUMMIT COUNTY JOURNAL, October 5, 13, 20, 27; November 3, 10, 17, 1967 (7 part serial)
- MAYHEM ON BEAR CREEK, Grant, 1979
- HEROES OF BEAR CREEK, Ace, November 1983
- THE FACE OF A TORNADO, North-West, 1998 (Russian)
- A GENT FROM BEAR CREEK AND OTHER TALES, Wildside Press, June 2005
- ROBERT E. HOWARD FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER #3, Robert E. Howard Foundation, Fall 2007 (Typescript, early draft featuring Pike Bearfield)
- THE BEAR CREEK OMNIBUS, Dennis McHaney, June 2009 (Early draft featuring Pike Bearfield)
- A GENT FROM BEAR CREEK AND OTHER WESTERNS, Halcyon Press, Ltd., January 2010
- THE ROBERT E. HOWARD OMNIBUS: 99 COLLECTED STORIES, Halcyon Press, Ltd., May 2010
- COLLECTED WESTERN STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Halcyon Press, Ltd., October 2010
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S COLLECTED WORKS, Jame-Books, February 2013 (as “While the Smoke Rolled” featuring Pike Bearfield)
- THE SECOND WESTERN MEGAPACK: 25 CLASSIC WESTERN STORIES, Wildside Press, April 2013
- THE ADVENTURES OF BRECKINRIDGE ELKINS VOLUME 2, REH Foundation Press, March 2017 (as “While the Smoke Rolled” featuring Pike Bearfield)
