Publisher's Synopsis
Mark Kelton is eighteen years old â_" part boy, part man. On the trail to set up a ranch in eastern Oregon, his parents are killed by an unknown assailant and their strongbox containing $8,000 is stolen. Mark heads out onto the empty plain where he encounters Bronco Curtis, a man who knows what he wants, and Curtis befriends the young orphan. Under Curtisâ_Ts tutelage, Mark becomes an experienced cowboy. Curtis purchases a small cattle ranch and appoints Mark as his partner, even though Mark is destitute. Even so, always at the back of Markâ_Ts mind is the knowledge that, somewhere on the plains, the murderer of his parents still rides free.
