Sam Morrison, reports for the "Saint Louis Herald," is in Dakota country looking for stories. He decides to join a group of passengers on a steamboat going up the Missouri River for the dedication of a new fort named in honor of one Charles Rawley. On the way he talks to a number of different people about Rawley, including a mysterious stranger who might even be Rawley himself, though Sam has been given at least two eyewitness accounts of Rawley's death. The stranger, who calls himself Alex Selkirk (the true name of Robinson Crusoe, though this is never mentioned), might however, be a former Rebel named Drew Hardesty - also reportedly dead. Is Rawley a hero or fraud? Is he alive or dead? Morrison is determined to find out.