by Terry C. Johnston. Softbound, 429 pages, 6-1/2" x 9-1/2". With the end of the beaver trade at hand, free trappers like Titus Bass must somehow make their way on a changing frontier. Drawn by the promise of adventure and wealth, Bass joins an expedition of old friends and former enemies to Spanish California, where the ranchos have horses and mules in abundance. Their plan is to steal the livestock and drive it back east across the great Mojave Desert to sell to fur traders for top dollar. The era of the trapper is ending, and Bass begins to wonder where his own trail will take him--with the mountains no longer so wild and the price of beaver and other fine furs no longer worth a man's risking his own life. An outsider in a world he no longer recognizes. No. 702556