If I slept any that night I certainly couldn't remember it. Seemed I had stared at the darkness all night, sure I was to be imprisoned or hanged come morning. In less than a month I'd been drug toward California, beset by Indians, whipped soundly, and now jailed; and I was not yet twelve. Dim came the dawn through the slits about my eyes. Both were now swollen and very sore to the touch. I was sure they were both black and blue. My nose had bled, but it seemed to be where it was. I'd a loose tooth, a cut to my chin and pain just about everywhere. As I sat the bench in my cell I consoled myself by finding spots on my body that didn't hurt, places they had missed, few there were. My left ear didn't hurt, my left leg felt normal. That was it; the rest of me had complaint aplenty. "A cracking read, a real page-turner, in the great Western adventure tradition of Louis L'Amour." --Timothy Harper, American Society of Journalists and Authors "Tyler James is a great hero, and so is Larry Layman for creating him. This is the kind of book, with lots of outdoor action, lots of outdoor adventure, and even some outdoor lust and love stories, that anybody would want to read." --John McCrudden, the Tandus Group