THE BURNING LAND. THAT WAS WHAT THE INDIANS HAD CALLED IT. THEY HAD SAID THE SPIRIT OF EVIL LIVED IN THE WEATHERED, BLISTERING BREAKS OF THE SHATTERED OLD VOLCANIC SPILL. BENTLEY KNEW WHAT HERBERT MEANT TO DO. HE HAD BROUGHT THEM OUT HERE TO SET THEM AFOOT, LEAVE THEM TO DIE. Cal Bentley has won his fight to provide water for a land that desperately needs it. Now all he has to do is convince the local ranchers the government means business. Even the sheriff has quit rather than try to tell Boss Herbert to get off the 500,000 acres of government land he's using.

So naturally Cal gets himself elected lawman. Which ends up with him and his partner beaten and left in the desert, with no way to get back. No way at all. And no water.