Candy rides along and spots retired Sgt. Russell, someone the former served in the army with. Russell and a bunch of other retired servicemen ask for the right to settle on Ponderosa land. They claim they want to get ginseng from the land, and sell it to Chinese merchants in California. . Ben agrees to let them settle despite objection from Carson City officials who claim the retired soldiers are very big trouble. Soon, it becomes completely apparent the vets have no intention at all of getting ginseng from the land. In fact, they are planning to bluntly rob the Carson City Mint and in a sense hold the illegally-obtained gold hostage and make the US government give more pensions to retired veterans who were unjustly denied and thus robbed of such pay (as Russell and his men were).
Review of Company of Forgotten Men
