G Russell Peterman

Joe Kirt; muleskinner, stagecoach driver, sometimes deputy and known man with a gun; is dying of consumption (tuberculosis). There is no known cure. Joe has seen doctors but none will tell him how long he has. So, Joe decides to take a last ten-mule hitch load up to Deer Creek Station on the North Platte, return to Cheyenne, and ride a boxcar with his mustang named Dancer down to Albuquerque, New Mexico to see Doc Cater, his old family doctor. It's a trip north and south filled with remembering, danger, and gun smoke.