Toby Grounds, the foundling boy the two buffalo hunters regarded as their son has to grow up without them as he works to keep alive their dream of someday having a horse ranch along the Yellowstone river in eastern Montana. Along the way, he enters into the conflicts America engages in as he follows Teddy Roosevelt to Cuba into the bloody Spanish-American War, then helps in the rescue of American citizens in China during the Boxer Rebellion. Home again, Grounds ekes out his family's existence by becoming a bounty hunting, a vocation which nearly gets him killed. Later, it's "gas masks for men and horses" as World War I draws him into its vortex of violence. Lloyd's novels overflow with action in historically accurate settings with the firearms of the day playing a part--the Sharps rifles, Winchesters, pistols and more.