He refused to take a side until they took his wife and son.

On a sprawling rancho near Santa Barbara, mountain man Will Reed has found a place to call home and a family he loves. But when the Americans and the Mexicans begin to battle over supremacy in California, their struggle threatens to destroy Will's dreams perhaps his life.

Human greed and the lust for power hold sway as both the American military and Mexican Banditos attempt to grab for themselves the wealth of central California's cattle ranches. And Will Reed's family is caught in the middle. Battling against both nature and the human propensity for evil, Will must face the most dangerous of adversaries men who are determined to take his land at any cost.

But much more than the land is at stake. Saving his family will require every ounce of courage and resourcefulness the mountain man can muster -.

The Gripping Sequel to Sequoia Scout