Soldado and his renegades massacre a family and then attack a shipment of rifles and ammunition intended for Vittoro's people, killing all the soldiers guarding it. Colonel Crook is ordered back to Washington to accept a medal and is being replaced for the two months he is gone by Colonel Smith, who immediately orders all Apaches to surrender their rifles and ammunition. Smith assigns Buffalo Baker to carry the order to Vittoro but he refuses and is put in the guardhouse. He is soon joined there by Hondo who disobeys Smith's order restricting him to the fort to ride to Tucson to retrieve Colonel Crook. Smith, however, is still in charge for 24 hours and rides out with Captain Richards as Soldado has offered to be the first to surrender his weapons. This turns out to be a trap and Smith, Richards and several troopers are held captive. Soldado sends a sergeant back with his ultimatum, which is 100 repeater rifles and one thousand rounds of ammunition in exchange for the hostages.