Lt. William Forrest Baldwin was dragged back from sick leave on urgent call and it wasn't for active duty he was wanted. No indeed. The Army wanted him to nursemaid 300 Comanche prisoners up to Fort Sill. He had been assigned only one platoon of men to protect his captives -- and naturally, the platoon were all "defectives", also barred from active duty.... The only man Baldwin could count on was his Sergeant. That made two of them.

For Gage Jameson, the summer of 1873 has been a poor hunt. A year ago, he felled sixty-two buffalo in one stand. Now the great Arkansas River herd is gone, like the Republican herd before it. In Dodge City, old hide hunters speak in awe of a last great herd to the south -- but no hunter who values his scalp dares ride south of the Cimarron and into Comanche territory. None but Gage Jameson...