The Quest of the Four

On a bright spring day in New Orleans, young Phil Bedford looks beyond the busy Mississippi levee toward the unfamiliar Southwest. The Kentucky boy plans to head west, driven by a personal search. A chance encounter with Hans Arenberg, a German immigrant from Texas, brings him a companion with a search of his own. They agree to share lodgings and begin considering how to travel safely.

Joseph Alexander Altsheler sets this frontier adventure against conflict involving the Comanches and the American army in Mexico. Later scenes place Phil, Arenberg and Bill Breakstone among soldiers camped in Saltillo, where ordinary town life continues around the invading forces. Conversations beside a campfire, friendships among volunteers and the uncertainty of enemy movements give the novel its mix of personal concerns and military action. Readers interested in historical Western fiction will find both bustling city scenes and the pressures of life near a contested border.