Rush Rago was regarded with open suspicion in the Maverick Canyon country. The long-geared pilgrim claimed he had believed a desert rat's story about a gold strike in the region, and was aiming to sell pick-axes and other equipment to the prospectors. Which in itself was an unlikely yarn -- since there'd been no mother lode sighted near Tyrone, but only plenty of copper. Rago was more or less prepared for trouble -- but he hadn't expected his first bushwhacker, who was obviously shooting to kill, to be a girl.