The wild border town of Spanish Flatts, marked almost the exact center of a district extending for hundreds of miles in every direction, that lay in the complete domination of a group of organized gangs. Smugglers crossed and recrossed the Rio Grande at will; rustlers cleared the range of cattle; highwaymen roamed every trail, and the reign of terror demoralized not only the honest citizens of the district, but the forces of law as well.