Luke Riatt had grown up fast. First, there was the War Between the States in which, he, a Texan, had tasted the bitterness of defeat. And then, there was the loss of his wife and young child to the cholera epidemic. Luke drifted until he went back to Texas and took a job as a civilian scout for the Army, and eventually enlisted in the only organization that provided law and order during those turbulent years: the Texas Rangers. Luke had all of the best qualifications for a Texas Ranger. He was tough and unimpeachably honest - and could stand up to any challenge. But even Luke was baffled by the desperately wounded man with blood on his saddle who talked feverishly about a bat with a Colt and a cat in his saddlebag.