He was just a square, decent cowboy looking for a job when he stopped into Monk Holliday's saloon, but ranchers weren't hiring. Monk took a liking to him and offered him a job dealing at his poker table till something turned up. Ran Hollis took him up on the offer and would have liked the job well enough except for Cal Taylor, who took an instant dislike to him. Taylor owned the biggest ranch in that part of Arizona and a bad reputation. Ruthless and domineering, he had tough characters riding for him. When Taylor tried to cheat at the poker table, the challenge was met with guns blazing and ended with Taylor on the floor and Ran holding the smoking gun. Monk told him to get going before Taylor's riders realized what had happened and started after him.