Travelling West was never easy. Men, women and children endured the rough terrain, the heat, the cold, illness and, sometimes, Indians. So, when sickness struck, and wagons had to be segregated, the danger was increased. There were always men ready to take advantage and Clem Watkins and his gang were ready to do just that. Ardal Maloney, his wife Kate and two children had left Ireland to seek out a new life in the West. Leaving behind them starvation, poverty and death, they came to the New World to start afresh. But the senseless killing of women and children fired Ardal into seeking to avenge their deaths.