Cantrell

In Strangers Talk or Die, Jeff Parker comes to an agreement with Fat Sam Scoby, a dishonest agent for a rustling syndicate. Parker agrees to smuggle gold bars across the Mexican border with the United States. He arranges for the gold bars, now disguised as railway freight, to be shipped to a man named Ed Bellows. When Parker does rendezvous with Scoby, he will not have the gold bars, and by this means saves himself from being killed by Scoby -- who intends to share with no one.

Cantrell begins with Tom Cantrell's ill-fated cattle drive across the Texas plains to his home ranch in New Mexico Territory. The trail herd falls victim to persistent looting from bands of Indians, so that the herd dwindles to a ghost of what it once was. When his partner is killed, Tom learns that half interest in the ranch has been sold to Virginia Bratton. Taken together, the obstacles in Cantrell's path to build a successful cattle ranch appear insurmountable.