8vo, cloth. X-library.Teen and Young Adult mystery story.The year was 1858. An angry nation was in ferment over the slavery question. The new state of California had threatened to secede. This is the story of a young man who is suddenly thrust on the stagecoach going from his home in Arkansas to Lodi, California, and in the company of two white ferrets. Before he knew it, he found himself the key figure in an intrigue in which his sense of Honor was to test his Patriotism.Against an authentic background, this book is filled with adventure and mystery including an Apache Indian raid, etc. It was nominated for Best Juvenile Mystery Book by the Edgar Awards in 1964.