[In The King's Fifth] a small party sets out to search for fortune, with a Zuni girl as their guide. In the vast country that would become Arizona they see terraced adobe cities whose people worship the sun, marvel at the huge Abyss which in time would be called the Grand Canyon, and find treasure that inflames their passions and eventually destroys them.

How the seven travelers are reduced to two—Esteban and Father Francisco—is a harsh narrative illuminated by the beauty of the enormous land and the simple integrity of the Indians.

Although the story pits white men against red men, and Spaniard against Spaniard, it is not simplified into a contest of the good against the bad. The worst men here have qualities of courage and occasional kindness, the best have lapses and limitations. Esteban de Sandoval is a wholly believable lad, vulnerable to the...