For the westerner trouble came with the territory. Long grass valleys, merciless deserts, sheer rock cliffs, icy streams, hidden trails, dusty towns. These were the proving grounds of daily life. At any time violence could explode and on the frontier there was no avoiding its sudden terrible impact. In this collection of his stories Louis L’Amour guides us to some of these untamed places where men and women faced the challenge of survival.

Callaghen's business is soldiering. For twenty years he'd fought all over the world, from China to the deserts of California; now he's a private in the U.S. Cavalry, poorly paid, his enlistment about to run out. He's ready to move on...until he comes across a startling discovery: a treasure map belonging to a dead lieutenant who may not have been all that he seemed. The map points the way to an underground river of gold...or does it? To find out,