Robert Burton/Cameron
Burton is a prospector looking for gold in the desert under the name of Cameron. He meets up with Jonas Warren who happens to be the father of Nellie Warren, the woman Burton got pregnant and left to disgrace. Burton confesses his true identity to Jonas and that after a long search he had found and married Nellie, thus giving her child a legitimate name. The two men die in the desert during a sandstorm after finding gold. Burton leaves the marriage certificate in a tin box along with a note giving half of his gold claim to his daughter Nell Burton and the other half to whomever finds it. Dick Gale and Yaqui find the two men’s skeletons, the gold and the note after the two men had been lost for years.
Nellie Warren Belding
Nellie Warren lived in Peoria, Illinois when she was seduced by Robert Burton. They were engaged to be married, but Burton left town. Nellie heads West when she discovers she is pregnant. Burton finds her eventually and marries her, but she takes only his name. When Burton is lost in the desert and presumed dead Nellie marries Tom Belding. Tom raises Nell Burton as if she is his own daughter. Nellie watches her daughter carefully since she terrified that the same thing that happened to her will happen to Nell. She finally accepts Dick Gale as Nell’s suitor and realizes he will not harm her daughter. She is also very grateful to Dick for finding the bodies of her father and husband so that they can be buried.
Jonas Warren
Jonas is the father of Nellie Warren Belding and grandfather of Nell Burton. He searches for his daughter after she leaves Peoria in disgrace. He follows her West and becomes a prospector. He meets up with Robert Burton who disgraced his daughter. He finds out Burton did marry his daughter and gave their child a legitimate name. Jonas is able to forgive Burton. The two men die together in the desert during a sandstorm. Nellie searches for her father for years after he is presumed lost in the desert. Dick Gale is the one who finds and recovers his body.
Nell Burton
Nell Burton is the daughter of Nellie Warren Belding and Robert Burton. She is the stepdaughter of Tom Belding. She falls in love with Dick Gale. She will not marry Dick when she discovers that she may be illegitimate. Dick, however, finds the long-lost bodies of her father and grandfather as well as proof that Nell’s father and mother were actually married, and she is actually legitimate. Nell and Dick are then married.
Richard 'Dick' Gale
Dick Gale came to the West to prove to his father that he could take care of himself and be a man. When he came to Casita he was low on money and was thinking about returning home. He ran into his friend George Thorne, a cavalry officer. Thorne asks him for help getting the woman he loved, Mercedes Castañeda out of Casita and away from the dangerous rebel leader Rojas. Gale causes a diversion for the couple with the help of the cowboys Lash and Ladd. He attacks Rojas and in the ensuing scuffle Thorne and Mercedes are able to escape. Gale, Lash and Ladd then take Mercedes to Forlorn River where she is taken in by Tom Belding and Gale is offered a job as a ranger patrolling the Mexico and United States border.
Gale falls in love with Belding’s stepdaughter Nell Barton. Unfortunately, Rojas finds Mercedes and Gale joins the group that takes her across the desert on the way to Yuma. Gale survives the fight with the Mexican rebels without injury. He and Yaqui help the others survive in the harsh desert climate while they wait for rain and for Ladd to be well enough to travel. Gale makes it back to Forlorn River safely, but Nell refuses to marry him since she believes she is illegitimate and his dreams for the future are in jeopardy. His friend, Yaqui leads him into the desert where Gale finds gold, a way to divert the Forlorn River thus assuring him and his friends fertile land as well as the bodies of Nell’s father and grandfather. A note left by Robert Burton, Nell’s father, gives the gold claim to his daughter and whomever finds it. He also leaves a copy of his marriage certificate, thus proving Nell is legitimate. Gale vows to share his gold strike with his friends. He goes back to Forlorn River and marries Nell.
Tom Belding
Belding is a rancher who is married to Nellie Warren and the stepfather of Nell Burton. He helps Mercedes hide from Rojas and hires Dick Gale as a ranger to patrol the border between Mexico and the United States. Belding stays behind when the others escape into the desert to get away from Rojas. When the others return Belding’s ranch is in trouble and he has lost almost everything. Dick Gale finding gold, however, changes everyone’s fortunes and Belding is able to save his ranch.
Jim Lash
Lash is a cowboy and friend of Charlie Ladd. He helps Dick Gale get Mercedes out of Casita and to Forlorn River. Lash is hired by Tom Belding to be a ranger and patrol the United States and Mexico border. Lash accompanies Mercedes and Thorne when they go into the desert to escape Rojas. Lash is injured in the fight, but quickly recovers. He gets a share in the gold that Dick finds in the desert.
Charlie Ladd
Ladd is a cowboy and friend of Jim Lash. He helps Dick Gale get Mercedes out of Casita and to Forlorn River. Ladd is hired by Tom Belding to be a ranger and patrol the United States and Mexico border. Ladd accompanies Mercedes and Thorne when they go into the desert to escape Rojas. He is shot many times in the fight with Rojas and his friends fear he will not recover. Yaqui, however, uses plants and roots to aid in Ladd’s recovery. Eventually he is able to make the journey back to Forlorn River. Ladd is unable to do the work of a cowboy any longer, but Dick ensures that he gets a share in the gold found in the desert.
George Thorne
Thorne is a cavalry officer and friend of Dick Gale. He falls in love with Mercedes Castañeda, a beautiful Mexican aristocrat running away from the rebel leader, Rojas. He enlists his friends help to get Mercedes out of Casita. Once his friend gets her safely to Forlorn River Thorne hopes to join them, but he is kidnapped by Rojas and his rebels. They torture him in order to discover the whereabouts of Mercedes. Nell Burton and the cavalry free Thorne. He joins Mercedes at Forlorn River where they are married. He escapes into the desert with Mercedes when Rojas finds them. He is wounded in the gunfight but survives. Thorne returns to Forlorn River where he is able to begin a new life with Mercedes when Gale discovers gold and plans to share his find with his friends.
Mercedes Castañeda
Mercedes is a beautiful aristocrat running away from rebel leader Rojas. After Rojas kills her father Mercedes escapes into the United States. She meets cavalry officer George Thorne and they both fall hopelessly in love with one another. Thorne enlists the help of his friend Dick Gale to get Mercedes out of Casita and away from Rojas. Gale with the help of cowboys Jim Lash and Charlie Ladd takes Mercedes to the ranch of Tom Belding. Thorne joins her there eventually and they are married. She is safe there until Rojas discovers where she is. Mercedes escapes into the desert and is saved from being attacked by Rojas when Yaqui attacks the Mexican and kills him. Mercedes then returns to Forlorn River where she can begin a new life with George Thorne.
Rojas
Rojas is the leader of a band of Mexican rebels who are terrorizing the town of Casita and the surrounding areas. Rojas has chased a young Mexican aristocrat, Mercedes Castañeda all the way from Mexico. He claims he is in love with her and cannot live without her, but his hatred of the aristocracy is well known. Rojas killed Mercedes’s father, and everyone believes he means the girl harm rather than to show her any type of devotion. Rojas discovers that Mercedes is hiding in the home of Tom Belding. As Mercedes escapes into the desert Rojas tracks her relentlessly. He attacks Mercedes and tries to force himself upon her, but he is in turned attacked by Yaqui and killed.
Yaqui
He is a Native American from the Yaqui tribe. He is saved from a band of Mexican rebels by Dick Gale. The Mexicans and Yaqui do not like one another and try to kill one another whenever they meet. Gale takes the wounded Yaqui back to Tom Belding’s ranch. They nurse him back to health and he becomes Dick Gale’s shadow in order to repay the man for saving his life. When Rojas is after Mercedes, Yaqui is the one who leads the group through the desert and helps them to survive the ordeal. He kills Rojas and saves Mercedes’s life. After returning the group to Forlorn River, Yaqui takes Dick Gale back into the desert where they find the bodies of Jonas Warren and Robert Burton as well as gold. Yaqui eventually leaves Gale and returns to his home in the desert.
