On a sun-baked mesa road in New Mexico, a formidable prospector named Mehitabel Crump rescues a gaunt, starving man from the dust-a onetime stage actor named Thaddeus Roscius Shea, brought low by whiskey and despair. Against all odds, she takes him on as a partner and drags him out to the remote badlands to work a valuable mineral claim she has quietly staked.

But Shea's first trip to town ends in catastrophe when a cunning store owner slips liquor into his glass and tricks information out of him, setting a scheming mine-jumper named Sandy Mackintavers on their trail. With Mrs. Crump arrested on a technicality and the claim left unguarded, Shea must face his own weakness, the long reach of Mackintavers' hired muscle, and the brutal New Mexico wilderness-with nothing but an axe helve and an awakening sense of purpose to carry him through.

First serialized in 1919 and published in book form in 1920, this rugged, character-driven adventure showcases Bedford-Jones at the height of his powers, blending sharply observed Southwestern landscape with a genuine story of redemption and grit.