Travis Yancey, newly installed U.S. Marshal, has been asked by President Andrew Johnson to take on a special assignment. One of the president’s friends and campaign contributors has recently died, under suspicious circumstances, and Travis is called upon to investigate what might be a murder.
There is no time to sightsee around Washington, D.C. Travis returns to the small town of Chico, in Arizona Territory, scene of a family wedding. Working under presidential authority, he hires a crew to accompany him on this mission: twin brother Thomas, also a U.S. Marshal, and his new wife, Elizabeth; brother John, former Pinkerton Man; brother Matthew, a deputy sheriff from San Francisco; and Cochinay, native tracker and Elizabeth’s half-brother.
With everyone prepared and their necessities gathered together, they set off on the trek to Rancho Riata, near San Juan Capistrano in Southern California.
Martha Waring, second wife and now widow of Henry, and her two stepdaughters, Rosamond and Olivia, welcome the posse to their ranch. However, Henry’s lawyer, Richard Hotchkiss, is not so welcoming. In fact, by the next morning, when Travis is ready to begin his inquiries, the lawyer has inexplicably decamped, along with Henry’s secretary, Reuben Harwood, and his ranch manager, Bentley Lawton.
The hunt is on, to find not only these three Waring employees, but also the mysterious “Chief,” who exists somewhere in the background and may have been involved in Henry Waring’s death.
Travis is aided in the investigation by his own posse and by Rosamond Waring, a spunky sassy girl wearing wire-framed spectacles. Travis, confirmed bachelor and vehement opponent of marriage, finds himself falling hard for Rose. All the more so when, on her own, she deliberately enters the lion’s den, leaving him torn between apprehending a gang of desperadoes and rescuing the woman he loves.
There is no time to sightsee around Washington, D.C. Travis returns to the small town of Chico, in Arizona Territory, scene of a family wedding. Working under presidential authority, he hires a crew to accompany him on this mission: twin brother Thomas, also a U.S. Marshal, and his new wife, Elizabeth; brother John, former Pinkerton Man; brother Matthew, a deputy sheriff from San Francisco; and Cochinay, native tracker and Elizabeth’s half-brother.
With everyone prepared and their necessities gathered together, they set off on the trek to Rancho Riata, near San Juan Capistrano in Southern California.
Martha Waring, second wife and now widow of Henry, and her two stepdaughters, Rosamond and Olivia, welcome the posse to their ranch. However, Henry’s lawyer, Richard Hotchkiss, is not so welcoming. In fact, by the next morning, when Travis is ready to begin his inquiries, the lawyer has inexplicably decamped, along with Henry’s secretary, Reuben Harwood, and his ranch manager, Bentley Lawton.
The hunt is on, to find not only these three Waring employees, but also the mysterious “Chief,” who exists somewhere in the background and may have been involved in Henry Waring’s death.
Travis is aided in the investigation by his own posse and by Rosamond Waring, a spunky sassy girl wearing wire-framed spectacles. Travis, confirmed bachelor and vehement opponent of marriage, finds himself falling hard for Rose. All the more so when, on her own, she deliberately enters the lion’s den, leaving him torn between apprehending a gang of desperadoes and rescuing the woman he loves.
