The Survival of Juan Oro

THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST

Juan Oro would never know who his parents were or where he had come from. He had been given a Spanish name, but he was unquestionably American. He had been raised by Yaqui Indians, but captured by the men of Don José Fontana, a wealthy Spanish grandee in northern Mexico. The don made immediate arrangements to apprentice him to Matiás Bordi, a notorious outlaw who promised to turn Juan into the surest shot and the deadliest hand with a knife. But Don José asked one promise from Juan before he was turned over to Bordi's tutelage—that when he has become a true master of weapons, he will slay the outlaw leader who has become his mentor.