12-year-old Jem is left in charge of his family's ranch when his sheriff father has to take a prisoner to Sacramento. He thinks looking after things will be easy but once his dad leaves everything seems to go wrong! First a wolf invades the ranch and threaten the herd, then an injured stranger unexpectedly shows up, Jem's horse goes missing and his father's best rifle is stolen . . . Jem will do anything to retrieve his family's stolen property and prove to his father that he can take care of things---including going into a dangerous canyon to find the thieves! 144 pages
