Black Deer fraudulently wants to become the chief of the Salishes so that he can trade dubious goods with the whites with impunity, but the Axe Ghost manages to throw him out of the village with all his supporters...
The young heir Willett intends to take over the haunted castle and has hired detective Bat Batterton as an escort. Zagor and Chico join the detective and Willett, engaging in a dramatic adventure that at first glance goes beyond the bounds of possibility.
Zagor meets Henry Summers, a painter from Boston who wants to paint Indian culture, i.e. Indians "live". Zagor agrees to take him to Tonka where Zagor finds his old friends from the Chippewa tribe...