The Viper and the Hawk

Imperial Spain had been driven from the New World as Mexico rose in revolution and took control of her own destiny. Now it was Mexico who claimed the land - lush with promise - that was California.

To enforce this claim with an iron hand and with his own secret, sinister appetite for power came a man as feared as a deadly viper by all who had suffered the sting of his cruelty and treachery - Fermin Sinoba.

There was no one to oppose this conqueror who already had destroyed so many and seized so much...no one except a phantom figure who struck swiftly, then, as swiftly, disappeared in mystery...the brigand known only as El Halcon, the Hawk.

Thus the battle was joined, with all the future of California in suspenseful balance...