There's a shear drop of over 5,100 feet from the top of El Capitan to the desert floor below. 200 miles southwest of there sat Fort Quitman, reputed to be the worst duty station in the U. S. Cavalry. Scalding hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter, with a continuous wind that varied between 10 and 80 miles per hour, the fort was the home of rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, mountain lions and an occasional rabid skunk. The area was visited periodically by marauding bands of vicious Comanche and Apaches. The fort was a perfect match for the personality of its top sergeant, Charles P. Halloran. Then he met Cutler, a soft spoken, friendly type of man. For Halloran, it was a case of hate at first sight. The last thing he needed was to nursemaid a helpless tenderfoot. Halloran quickly discovered that Cutler might very well be the most dangerous man on the planet; the refining began.