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.