To the Kiowas a white buffalo was a sign of plenty. Only a name-warrior must kill it and even then a medicine-man had to perform the sacred rites over the hide within a prescribed time or all benefits would be lost. The fact that Luke Crammer had slaughtered a white buffalo could easily launch a full-scale war between the Kiowas and the white men of North Texas.

Similar trouble could come too from the Sioux, for their war-chief, Grey Bear, had been kidnapped by a bunch of hardcases and branded a thief. Grey Bear could not accept such shame and do nothing. Only one person could possibly stave off the trouble—the Ysabel Kid, the man the Pehnane Comanches called Cuchilo ... The Knife.