Vohkadeh, the young Mandan, is galloping towards a blockhouse in the Black Hills to let Martin Baumann know that the Oglala had captured his father, Bear Hunter, and plan to execute him at the next full moon. Martin, Shortleg Frank (Bear Hunter's business partner), Bob (their servant), Tubby Jemmy and Long Davy (the experienced Westerners) start off with Vohkadeh to rescue Bear Hunter. On their way Old Shatterhand, the legend of the West, and Winnetou, the chief of the Apache join the mission. The group keeps on growing as a band of the Shoshone, and a band of the Absaroka also agree to help them. On the way to the scene of the final whodunit, the beautiful Yellowstone National Park, they encounter many exciting and amusing adventures, and thus there are enough opportunities for each of them to carry out heroic deeds. This unabridged English translation retains the exciting adventures, and the strong moral conviction of May's original book, while modernising the style, and editing parts that were erroneous or may evoke bad associations. With this editing the core of May's world, the action, the dreaming of heroic deeds, and the struggle for a kind of justice have become more emphasised, and more accessible to the modern reader.
