It all started when Pat Stevens missed eight steers from the Lazy Mare herd. Suspicion naturally focused on redheaded Ray Morgan, an ex-convict. Then the steers were found on Morgan's spread, and suspicions seemed confirmed. But Pat wasn't jumping to any conclusions. Besides, pretty Candace Cowan believed in Morgan's innocence, and she wasn't a girl to stand up for a rustler. Then Candace suddenly disappeared, and another girl was cruelly murdered. Now Pat had to play a long hunch--and when it backfired, he found himself trapped in a blazing ranch house, shooting it out with a gang of desperate rustlers.