Lance had his own three horses, a new saddle, a carbine in the saddle boot, a bedroll and tarpaulin of his own—and he was headed up the Chisholm Trail.

The distance the Calhoun Box "C" brand would cover was all the way from San Antonio, Texas, to the cattle pens of Abilene, Kansas. Imagine, seventy days on the trail— through Indian Nation country, across the big Red River and the Arkansas, past forbidding Monument Mountain. And this year the Calhoun herd, all eleven hundred head, would be first up the trail! So it was early morning of March 2, 1868, that Lance, his cousin Lou Ann, Colonel Calhoun, punchers and herd started the long trek to Abilene.

Lance, set to riding "drag"—bringing up the rear of the herd—with his good friend, Mitch Tally, soon made friends with the spooky steer, nicknamed "Rover" by the boys. The three—man, boy and steer—were to prove a powerful combination against Comanches and renegade whites alike.

At Red River Station, just before the big push into Apache country, Lance's father presented him with a bright new .44 Colt pistol. He had shown he was ready to handle it. "Don't draw unless you have to," the Colonel advised. Looking down at it with pride, Lance little realized he actually would be using the pistol before they reach Trail's end.

From the dust jacket