For a brief moment young Luke Scarbrough was at a loss as to where he was. Darkness surrounded him and then he recognized the sound of an ember popping and it all came back to him. He . . . they, were back at the wagons, the site where the massacre had occurred more than two weeks ago. They had gotten back here during the night, he and the four he had taken back from the Indians; his older sister Belle, little sister Sally, and the two Anderson kids, Clara and Johnny. It now must be in the wee hours of the morning because when they got here they had celebrated their return for over an hour...

Abigail Becker awoke with a sudden jolt of fear, the room was dark and for a few moments she couldn't place where she was. Then, somewhere off in the distance she heard a gunshot and suddenly it all came back with a rush, she was in the boomtown of Virginia City Nevada. She had been dreaming and it had been a worrisome dream. Her memory activated and brought her worries to the forefront. She had lost her man, the love of her life back when her father accused him of being a thief, of throwing in with the two Mexican vaqueros and stealing his cattle. How foolish she had been to believe her...

Not moving from his position on the porch Jordan Scarbrough's eyes scanned the twelve mounted men. "I see you brought enough hands to get your cattle off of my place." "Or to hang a nester," said one of the mounted men. Burt Wolcott quickly said, "Now that's enough of that, let's see if we can't settle this peaceably. It seems this fella made a mistake and came to the wrong place to set up house keeping." Brandt Kelso stepped into view and stood in the doorway. Wolcott saw him and his face turned red. "So now you've joined this nester, it wasn't bad enough that you were a turncoat and went...