When Jace Quinlan rode into Hidetown, he was looking for work. Instead, he wound up in jail with a knot on his head, leg chains around his ankle and an invitation to a hemp party for murder and rustling.

After he escaped, he learned the sheriff and his henchmen were behind the rustling, and they had saddled the blame on him, a stranger. That's when he bowed his neck, dug in his spurs, and came hell-bent at the sheriff from every direction.

His only help came from a young woman, two children, and two cantankerous old men. But by using fire, centipedes, snakes, snares, lobo wolves, and brazen gall, Jace whittled away at the gang until the sheriff made a mad dash for Atascosa with Jace right on his tail.