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Luke Sunday had been raised among the Indians. A toddler that survived a massacre, an old mountain man found him and took him to live with his Cheyenne woman, the name coming from the old mountain man’s father and the day he was found, he living there until fourteen after both had passed. Alone for a while, he ended up spending ten years among the Crow where he earned the name “Dead Man” for his cold pale eyes that never expressed emotion.
When he’s strapped for cash to buy essentials, coffee beans, ammunition, salt, he took a job scouting for the army. He runs afoul of the process when they attack a peaceful Cheyenne village, believing it to be Sitting Bull’s camp. When leaders still insist ti was a Sioux village , Sunday is forced out, led by the words of fellow scout Bill Bogart.
Bogart is a huge man, a bully, that made the mistake of taking Sunday’s quiet demeanor as fear and tried to push him around.
Twice!
He was only alive after the second one because a friend had taken a shot at Sunday and forced the man to kill that one.
Still in need of money, Sunday accepts a job leading a young couple and their wagon into the Yellowstone area. David and Mary Beth Freeman were headed where his brother had established in a small new town and had sent for them. Plenty of farming area and peaceful.
It’s along journey filled with dangers, groups of Indians headed toward an infamous showdown with the army, predatory white men looking for lonely travelers with money, and they weren’t through with Bogart either.
Disaster strike when David Freeman is killed by a Sioux and Sunday is left with a woman determined to go on, but scared of him at the same time. He wasn’t used to dealing with white women, essentially a loner with almost everyone, and pressed on to get her to her destination. As things will happen, the two began to have different feelings about each other.
Charles G. West has become one of my top five favorite western writers working today. This one is highly recommended. Can be found HERE.
West is a top writer.
And a toddler that survived a massacre always makes for a good start. (Thinking Cash Laramie here.)
Glad to hear of this. I”ve seen his stuff but not read it. Gonna see if I can pick up a couple.