The date and events set out in this first volume of a series of three, is at the close of the eighteenth century in the south western part of the present state of Missouri. Each autumn a party of hunters and trappers from the settlement of Greville made regular visits to the Ozark Mountains for the purpose of gathering furs. Their plan was to be in the camp in the mountains until spring but trapper James Bowlby would be injured and that injury would set the scene for this story. Fred Linden, George Linden's sixteen year old son, would be sent a message by his father, through Deerfoot, a young Shawanoe warrior, to join them for the hunt. His trek south to the camp is of high suspense and personal danger.