The Mission At Silverlake

While on a detective mission south, Charles, sent by Josh Taylor to rescue a young, abducted poet from his tormentor, makes the acquaintance of Old Death, a famous scout by the name of Henry Harton. He also reconnects with Winnetou, who is on a secret mission on behalf of Benito Juarez, the Mexican President. But while Charles successfully concludes his mission, Old Death is accidentally shot dead. His brother Fred Harton is deeply affected by the tragedy and invites young Charles to accompany him to the Sonora, where Old Death has bequeathed him a rich gold-mine. Along the ride, they encounter a troop of French cavalry, a rag-tag band of inept misfits who blindly ride into a trap set by Native Indians. They are doomed; Old Shatterhand and Fred Harton succeed in rescueing the ladies, who had accompanied the cavalry. One of them, a young German girl sold into prostitution by scrupulous German agents, decides to accompany young Charles and Fred Harton to the gold-mine.

From San Francisco, Old Shatterhand and Emery Bothwell ride across the Sierra Nevada as soon as spring permits. East of the Rocky Mountains they part company; Bothwell returns to the civilised East, while Old Shatterhand joins a party of hunters riding north. As they return with a train of mules laden with peltry, Sioux attack them. Most of the hunters lose their lives, the others are dispersed in all directions. Old Shatterhand manges to remain undetected and survives the attack. In the morning he cautiosly sneaks back into the ill-fated camp and finds a sole survivor. But, the man is near death and willnot survive the night. the former black slave of a southern plantation who had decided to turn his hand to being a cowboy after the emanzipation of the southern slaves confides in Charles: he had kept a journal of his life on the plantation, and especially of what happend during the desperate times after the war. The dying writer entrusts Charles with the manuscript to 'making something of it'. Old Shatterhand promises him to do that.