Tex and Jim Brandon narrowly escape the deadly ambush the Canadian rebels set as a trap for the soldiers of Her British Majesty, and when the two finally stagger in to Fort Brooks, totally exhausted, all they find is a drunken old scout, Soublette: the Red Coats, every single one of them, have been massacred by the revolutionaries in an alliance with the Urons! So the motley trio push on towards Elbow, the secessionists’ recruitment center, where they pretend they intend to join the revolt… but, despite their disguise, the ranger and the “mountie” are first unmasked and then captured by Sergeant Donavan, who has defected to the rebels.