Summary
In the shadow of a past transgression, prosperous cattleman John Marshall, having justifiably shot a man, is forced into a self-imposed exile. Fearing the political machinations of his victim’s allies, he retreats with his young daughter, Mary, to a secluded mountain fastness within his vast ranch. His only ostensible link to the outside world is 'Topaz' Taggart, a political operator whose public trustworthiness belies a sinister agenda: he covets Marshall's land, aware of a legendary treasure buried within, guarded by the last of the Yaqui tribe. Into this isolated world drifts Bud Hughes, a former aviator now a vagrant, and Miguel, a loyal Mexican. Their quiet existence is shattered by the unexpected arrival of Terrence O’Rourke, a forest ranger whose plane crash-lands, leaving him wounded. As Mary nurses O’Rourke back to health, a bond forms, and he soon assumes the role of protector for both father and daughter, bracing them against Taggart’s relentless, calculated assaults and the disheartening trials that follow.
Synopsis
Fifteen years before the story opens, John Marshall, a prosperous cattle raiser, had shot a man. He knows the act justifiable, but because of the political influence of his victim he felt that his only recourse is to flee. Taking his little daughter he hides himself in a fastness of the mountains that constitute part of his great ranch. The only man he trusts in the outside world is "Topaz" Taggart, a political boss and all-around tricky citizen, who really is trying to get Marshall's ranch because of knowledge that on it is buried a fabulous treasure guarded by an aged Yaqui, last of his tribe. "Bud" Hughes, one-time aviator now a tramp, has attached himself to Marshall's hiding place personnel which included also, Miguel, a faithful Mexican. Into the hiding place there drops one day Terrence O'Rourke, a forest ranger with a double mission, who because of a wound, had lost control of his aeroplane. Marshall's daughter, Mary, grown to young womanhood nurses the young man back to health and from then on he becomes her father's and her protector in a long series of disheartening experiences at the hands of Taggart and his tools.
