After the gunsmoke cleared away, Sheriff Rodin and his nephew, Johnny McVay, loaded a dead outlaw and Old Joe Hooker into the wagon and headed for Grief Hill. Old Joe was dying from Johnny's bullets, but he could still talk. He said that the killer, Sammy Lee Dilts, got clean away with the nine thousand in gold for which he'd murdered Barlow Clesson. In the early morning dawn, Joe had thought Johnny was one of Clesson's tough Fiddleback crew. That's why he had opened up on Johnny with his Winchester. He couldn't blame Johnny for shooting back, but he wanted one favor -- Johnny was to help Joe's estranged daughter, Treva, get the Hooker ranch. That seemed an easy promise . . .