Julian Hawthorne — son of Nathaniel, raised among Emerson, Thoreau, and Melville — turns the American desert into the stage for a glittering treasure romance. West of the Rockies, three men argue over the vanished sea that once filled the basin, while somewhere in the sand lie a lost mine called the Golden Fleece, a relic said to be Montezuma's own, and a woman who knows far more than she will tell. This edition presents Hawthorne's complete and unabridged romance, newly typeset and illustrated with 30 full-page color plates.