Mother Trigedgo is one of the old Cornish clairvoyants that tell fortunes by cards and by pouring water in your hand and going into a trance. Her prophecy says that a man will take a long journey out West where he will find two treasures, one of Silver and the other of Gold. He must choose carefully or he'll lose them both. He will fall in love with a beautiful lady, but must be aware or she'll go with another man. Finally she predicts that a man will meet his death by the hand of a dear friend. Driven by this prophecy, a young westerner called Denver Russell heads off to Arizona and by the occurrence of strange circumstances he finds a place known as the Apache Leap where some of the fortune teller's words begin to make sense.

Dane Coolidge (1873-1940) was an American author, naturalist, and photographer. He is best known for his Western novels and his non-fiction books about the American West. Coolidge wrote short stories for magazines and made illustrations and his book Rimrock Jones was adapted into the film.