Charles travels to Denver and meets Colonel Markland and discovers that his assignment from President Grant will take him back to the land where he had at one time lived with the Sioux. A French-Canadian was running a trading post, and was trying to turn the Indians against the whites by supplying guns and liquor to the Indians. He was also cheating the Indians and blaming it on the soldiers at the fort. A Government inspector had gone to check out the trading post and was never heard of again. Charles meets his one-time war chief, Gray Horse, who tells Charles of some alarming details. Charles realizes that if he kills the French-Canadian, that he could create a war between the Sioux and the U.S. Army. Charles is forced to use his influence to resolve issues between the whites and the Indians.