Dan Sweet was a tall man, a strong man, and most important, a man who had taken his own measure and lived by it. Now he had promised Ben Gaultt to drive 4000 head of beef across the blazing Arizona desert - Indian country. Sweet was not the man to take an idle promise.

But trouble was brewing; there were too many people who didn't want that beef to market. Nate Ringabaugh gave Sweet his first warning, and Ringabaugh was a man who commanded respect. Miles Littlejack had grimly fought Sweet for authority, and Owen Mingo was doing his best to whip the crew into a mutiny.

There was one man left. He was waiting. In his mind, Ben Gaultt had to be ruined, and there was only one way to do it. Dan Sweet had to die.