The Circle K was an old ranch - a prosperous ranch - and its foreman, Baldy Bishop, was a fixture on it. Baldy had joined the Circle K long before the war between the states, when as a lad of sixteen he'd hired out to Sam Kitridge, the Circle K's founder. When Sam had died, he had continued with Larry Kitridge, Sam's eldest son, and now as our story opens - with Larry now dead and his young son, Bob, now taking over, Baldy had remained to serve three generations.