Dan Brady and Jimmy Ray. One of White lineage, the other of Indian decent. Brothers by choice (and possibly necessity) from being raised in a Chicago orphanage run by nuns. They parted ways after being kicked out of the orphanage. Dan became a lawman. Jimmy Ray changed his name and became an outlaw.

When their paths finally crossed again, Brady wired for help from the Texas Rangers. Being afraid his long-ago friend would come after him, Brady took the time to write down everything he could recall about their past lives. He left his memoirs in the hands of the local banker for safekeeping, with directions for it all to be given to the first Ranger who answered the wire, should something happen to him before help could arrive.

Texas Ranger Beacher Tolbert just happened to be the closest to San Angelo, Texas, when Austin received the wire from Sheriff Dan Brady. Arriving the day the townsfolk were burying the good sheriff from being killed by a lightning strike, Tolbert was mystified at first, unsure of just why the lawman had needed a Ranger’s assistance. The reasons were soon made clear when the banker handed over Brady’s letters, and Beacher found himself once again knee deep in a real mess—from bank robbery to murder to extortion to kidnapping. It was up to Ranger Tolbert to straighten it all out and bring law and order back to San Angelo, Texas.