Prequel to the "Ten Men of Courage" trilogy, Lon and HapLon Caldwell grew up in the itinerant life of his Army Officer father, moving from fort to fort as the Army expanded westward. Caldwells had served as far back as the Revolution, but he hated the military life. At 18, his father insisted Lon go to West Point as he had. He refused. With heated words, Lon rode away.For years, Lon drifted across the wild lands of west Texas, but it wasn't until he rode with the Frontier Regiment against the Comanches in defense of the settlers, that he came to understand his father, and his heritage - Caldwells always stepped forward when the line between courage and cowardice was drawn in the sand. Hap Wickham's ancestor, Colton, risked his life to take his wife and her family to safety during the British expulsion of the Acadians from their homeland. Colton established the 'Wickham Standard': every Wickham man will always defend his family and exact retribution for any harm done to them. Hap was 16 when his father took a Kansas homestead. At 18, he worked as an outrider guard for Santa Fe Trail freighters. The 'Bleeding Kansas' days were looming and when Jayhawkers struck his home with death and destruction, Hap took up The Standard and left ten Jayhawker guerillas dead in the Kansas sand. He rode away that day determined to always kill any man who preyed on the innocent.