The seventh Mountain man adventure in a rip-roaring series from Peter Alan Turner! After the battle with Colonel Watkins and his band of gold seekers, Bear Willis finally fulfilled his promise to himself. With his new wife, Waity, friend Josh, and a great Irish Wolf Hound, they were heading South to El Paso, Texas. However, the party was only one day on the trail when a rider appeared with an urgent message. Eric Willis, Bear's beloved six-foot-nine-inch grandfather. The one known as 'The Viking' was dead! Eric's Paiute wife, Many Stars, sent the letter. She told how Eric was killed when he rushed into a collapsed mine to rescue the workers. Using his immense strength, the giant lifted a support beam, and the men escaped. But, sadly, even Eric's powerful muscles were no match for the mountain, and the 'The Viking’ was buried under tons of rock and debris. Many Stars wrote that Eric's land has been taken by a ruthless rancher named Seth Rankin. According to the rancher, Eric owed him money and put up his land as collateral. As a result, Many Stars, unfamiliar with white man's ways, was forced off the propeerty. Bear, seething with grief and rage, rushes back to help Many Stars. The mountain man soon finds himself battling not only a powerful rancher and his gunslicks but also a double-dealing sheriff for control of the land. Bear Willis will have to rely on his strength and wit and his fierce Irish Wolf Hound as they fight to return the land to Many Stars and solve the riddle of Crooked Mountain Gold.