Life had dealt a bad hand to Bob Steele. A fugitive from the law for a murder he didn't commit, he was trapped in a strange bondage to Jake Claybome, a man who set a high price for his protection. Now Bob had extended the term of that bondage and Jake had no option but to comply. But when Bob spotted the seventeen-year-old whom Jake had bought from a Cheyenne chief, he reached a decision. He had come upon the girl as she hid from Jake in the woods, and when he saw the terrible scars on her back, he knew he couldn't send her back. They'd have to run for it -- with Jake's guards on one side and a hangman's rope on the other!