Slater's Way

Zusatztext Praise for Charles G. West “Rarely has an author painted the great American West in strokes so bold! vivid! and true.”—Ralph Compton Informationen zum Autor Charles G. West lives in Ocala, Florida. His fascination with and respect for the pioneers who braved the wild frontier of the great American West inspire him to devote his full time to writing historical novels. Klappentext The author of The Devil's Posse returns with the tale of one man's journey from mines to mountain trails and the dangers hunting him every step of the way.... After gunfire and fear of the law drive him away from his home, young John Slater Engels is forced to seek refuge in the mountains of Montana. There he meets Teddy Lightfoot, who invites the boy to live with his wife and him in a small Crow village nestled in the Absaroka Mountains. In case lawmen are still searching for him, Engels decides to drop his legal name, keeping only his middle name: Slater. As the years go by and Slater grows into manhood, he also becomes an excellent scout—so much so that he's hired to assist the soldiers based out of Fort Ellis. But just when Slater's future begins to look bright, he crosses paths with a dangerous Sioux war chief named Iron Pony, who vows to take his life. And as Slater's past comes back to haunt him, he's forced to make some tough decisions—decisions that may cost him everything he holds dear.... SLATER’S WAY SIGNET For Ronda Chapter 1 It was altogether fitting on this spring day in 1864 that the muddy streets of Virginia City were awash with a flood of water from a violent thunderstorm. Nothing good can come of a day as dreary as this, Leona Engels thought. The heavy dark clouds hovering over Alder Gulch erupted again late in the afternoon and threatened to continue their assault of thunder and lightning into the evening. The disagreeable weather had not been sufficient to keep John Slater Engels and his longtime friend and partner, Henry Weed, from their usual visit to the Miners Saloon. It was a ritual that John’s wife loathed, since the little bit of pay dirt her husband and Henry were able to pull from their claim in Daylight Gulch went straight into Gil Mobley’s pockets at his saloon, but she was too fearful to complain about it. As darkness began to gather in the gulch, Leona became more concerned, for it was well past time when the two men usually came home for supper. She walked to the door of the rough cabin once again to peer out into the rain. There was still no sign of her husband and his partner. Finally she turned and called to her fifteen-year-old son, “Jace, come here, boy.” John Slater Engels Jr. was originally called J.S. by his parents, but in a short time the initials evolved into the nickname of Jace, since the sounds were not that far apart. The boy carefully put the shotgun he had been cleaning aside and came from the kitchen. “Ma’am?” he replied. “I’m startin’ to worry about your pa,” Leona said. “Him and Henry are usually through with their drinkin’ and card playin’ by now. I want you to go down to Virginia City and tell them I’m gonna throw their supper out the door if they don’t get theirselves home.” “Yes’um,” the stoic young boy replied. With no sign of emotion, he turned and went to the front corner of the cabin, where he slept on a bedroll, and picked up his hat. It was not the first time he had been sent to find his father and his hard-drinking friend, and it was a chore that he didn’t much care for. It would be a year this month since they had come to the gulch in search of gold. And so far, it seemed the main thing his father had accomplished was to garner a reputation for himself as a drunk and a brawler. There wasn’t much law enforcement in most parts of Alder Gulch. Outlaws and hell-raisers were ultimately...

Product details

• Authors: Charles G West, Charles G. West
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 07.07.2015
• EAN: 9780451471994
• ISBN: 978-0-451-47199-4
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 105 mm x 171 mm x 19 mm
• Series: Penguin Publishing Group
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature