The Trail of Danger

By: William MacLeod Raine

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Synopsis: Young Dennis Gifford, runaway sailor from the Mary Bligh, pounded up the dimly lighted streets of Monterey, the shouts of pursuit loud in his ears. He leaped a wall into a Spanish garden. Dennis did not know that this temporary refuge was actually a seething cauldron of hate and death. Those were the days when "Californian" meant a Spaniard or Mexican who lived there. Americans had already conquered the country, but some natives still hoped to drive them out. Bandits--like Juan Castro--recruited their companies by this patriotic appeal. Old Ramon Martinez, in whose house Dennis had found refuge, was a gentleman and opposed violence. He accepted American rule. His sons and daughters, particularly lovely, dark-haired Rosita, liked young Gifford. Juan Castro swore to kill Dennis to get Rosita for himself. Ramon Martinez was being impoverished by shrewd American financiers who held mortgages on his ranches and hired bandits to steal his cattle. Plunged into the fight on Martinez's side, Dennis defeated an attack by Castro on a gold convoy, killed one of the bandit's men and wounded another. From Monterey to rough, bustling San Francisco he rode a trail of danger that meant life or death at every fork--and there were many forks. The trail almost ended when--a captive--he found himself watching a marriage ceremony--that of Rosita and Juan Castro!