Mojave — C. Jack Lewis

Corporal Wagner, a young soldier in the American Civil War, is understudy to Sergeant Sam Slagle. They are charged with moving a camel train of supplies from Fort Tejon, across the Mojave Desert and down the Colorado River to Fort Yuma. The camel detachment that was supposed to make the trip has been ambushed and the camels stolen. There is no doubt as to where they are headed.

A part of the camels' load involves gold coins being sent to Yuma to pay the troops there. Slagle and Wagner worry, wondering how many people know about the gold. On the trail, Elizabeth O'Roark, who is looking for her fiancé, joins them. The soldiers know that he is already dead but do not have the heart to tell her.

A band of Confederate irregulars, headed by gunslinger Todd Dixon, is after both the camels and the gold. The local Apaches also are interested in what is going on and resent the growing hordes of military in their desert homeland.

How will the young corporal and the other cavalrymen make it with outlaws and a band of red warriors out to stop them?