With Sam now well on the road to recovery, things get back to a semblance of normalcy in the South Park Basin. The Circle C continues to flourish to the point where another trip to the stockyards in Georgetown becomes necessary. It is during that journey that things get complicated for the drovers of the Circle C as the Clarksons are confronted by a pair of ruthless Mexican hombres who have sworn a vendetta against all gringos.The ensuing story is one that history would just as soon forget. However, with the death toll, that summer of 1863, having reached an official 32 at the hands of the ruthless killers─with some of the prospectors and miners who lived it, putting it as high as 60─it was a very real part of the story that was the settling of the basin and surrounding mountains. Make no mistake about it, for those who managed to stay one step ahead of the treacherous Felipe Espinosa and his sworn vengeance, the summer of 1863 was one of keeping one hand on a fella's gold pan and the other on the butt end of his six-shooter.