Will Castleberry, guide, gambler and gunman, is an unconscious participant in the most incredible gunfight in the old west, just one tale in this last volume of the Five Trails West Series. In it, Zenas and his pals cross the Tularosa Basin in search of gold and adventure only to find the water holes fouled by avenging Indians. He participates in the Red River War and the rescue of the German girls. Zenas and Van Hunsucker encounter a most unusual breed of cattle. Death stalks them as they cross the Jornada Del Muerto. All that action and we haven't mentioned an Indian raid on a cattle drive, a wreck at the roundup, the preacher's Theory of Devolution, and a Curandero's unusual cure for his patients.