He rode wild country with wilder men. He was a loner who owned nothing but his horse and saddle - and his guns. He was a man willing to gamble his life to get the woman he wanted... He was Shalako.

He was a white man as cunning as any Indian, a brooding man who trusted in nothing but his weapon and his horse. Now Shalako was determined to cross the bleak Sonoran Desert - the Apaches' killing ground - by himself.

But then he found a European hunting party - and a brave and beautiful young woman - stranded and defenseless. And Shalako knew that he had to stay and help them fight. For somewhere out there was a feared Apache warrior... and he had the worst kind of death in mind for them all.