This mysterious story, which has almost become a legend, happened in the times when, as a result of a bloody war with Mexico, the United States took Texas and began to conquer its vast territory—from the borders of Louisiana to the Rio Grande.
It was then that Woodley Poindexter, a ruined plantation owner from the South, left his home on the Mississippi and moved, together with his son and daughter, into the wild prairies of southwestern Texas, to the Casa del Corvo hacienda that he bought using money borrowed from his own nephew—retired officer Cassius Colhoun. Colhoun was known as an extremely dangerous man in New Orleans; he was passionately in love with Poindexter’s daughter, Louisa, and used all his influence to win her hand. The uncle’s debt was so great that in practice the nephew became the owner of the hacienda and could declare himself its master at any moment.
But the beauty’s heart was given to the noble mustanger Maurice Gerald, who became the real embodiment of her maiden dreams. Driven by the torments of jealousy, Colhoun decided to take revenge on the hated rival. The mustanger Maurice must die! And if not by his hand, then by the hand of a hired killer—one who could easily be found across the vast prairies of Texas.
Alas, there is no place on earth where gold does not rule the dagger of a murderer.