Desert Hawks (Wells Fargo Trail Book #5) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - James Walker

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219 pages

English

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Out of the Great American West, Book 5 in THE WELLS FARGO TRAILSet in the 1870s in the desert of northern Arizona, The Desert Hawks opens with an action-filled story guaranteed to hold the interest of any Western buff. This new book entwines mystery and suspense in the lives of villains, Indians, innocent bystanders, and Zachary Cobb. Each has made choices to survive the challenges of a harsh frontier, and each must face the consequences in a tale of intriguing paths that cross unaware.Zac Cobb, an agent for the Wells Fargo Company, is on assignment in Arizona to track down the bandits robbing army payrolls and murdering the armed escorts. The tension mounts when the habits of one of the men Zac is tracking become disturbingly familiar. The leader of the outlaw gang turns out to be Julian, his embittered brother, whom Zac hasn't seen since he disappeared during the Civil War.The two brothers face off in a confrontation between good and evil as they are thrown together in an attempt to run the rapids of the Colorado River to escape a band of marauding Indians. Innocent people become entangled in the embroiled fight for survival between Zac and Julian.

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 juin 1996
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441261946
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0202€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Books by Jim Walker
Husbands Who Won’t Lead and Wives Who Won’t Follow
T HE W ELLS F ARGO T RAIL
The Dreamgivers
The Nightriders
The Rail Kings
The Rawhiders
The Desert Hawks
The Oyster Pirates
The Warriors
The Ice Princess
The Wells Fargo Trail, Book 5
The Desert Hawks
Jim Walker
© 1996 by Jim Walker
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Ebook edition created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
eISBN 978-1-4412-6194-6
Cover by Dan Thornberg.
Map created by Philip Schwartzberg, Meridian Mapping, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408.
This book is dedicated to someone with the brightest smile under the heavens, someone who surrounds my life with unconditional love and has taught me the need to understand and empathize, my daughter Jennifer.
JIM WALKER is a staff member with the Navigators and has written Husbands Who Won’t Lead and Wives Who Won’t Follow. He received an M.Div. from Talbot Theological Seminary and has been a pastor with an Evangelical Free Church. He was a survival training instructor in the United States Air Force and is a member of the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association. Jim, his wife, Joyce, and their three children, Joel, Jennifer, and Julie, live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Author’s Notes
The Wells Fargo Trail is a series that combines historical detail and rugged action. At times it becomes necessary to depict the raw violence of the West in the 1870s. I try to keep graphic descriptions to a minimum; however, the development of characters that are evil and desperate means that I must at times show their deeds and the results of their behavior.
Like you, I am appalled by the violence of our society. In my books, I work to show the values of the people that oppose this type of conduct. My characters are complex, however even the ones I want the reader to admire. Like all of us, they are people with mixed motives.
I also want the reader to be stimulated and entertained by the mixture of romance and action. There are examples here that show love a love that sacrifices itself for others. There are also genuine role models. Heroes are, of necessity, larger than life. They rise above their circumstances. They love the unlovely. They reach out to people that often you and I would not have in our homes. They make an attempt to understand those who seem incomprehensible.
Some explanation of the times in which this book takes place may be helpful. The “ghost dance” was a practice of the plains Indians that spread to most, if not all, the Native American tribes. Missionaries unknowingly lent their teaching of the resurrection to the growing belief that the ancestors of warriors would rise to join them in eradicating the white man. In the end, it was a passionate need for hope that caused those who practiced the ghost dance to have courage about their future and not accept the slavery that the Indian reservations brought.
An author is in the best of worlds when he can write about actual life experience. The Desert Hawks has let me do just that. White-water rafting has always been a passion of mine. In the last twenty years, I have rafted down the Rogue River in Oregon, the Nooksack River in Washington State, the American and Feather Rivers in California, the Arkansas River in Colorado, and the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. When I write about the experience of Zac Cobb and his group of fellow travelers as they negotiate the deadly waters of the Colorado, it is something I know very well.
While rafting the Feather River, I actually had a near-drowning experience quite similar to the one I tell about in Chapter 43 . There was a peace about it that is difficult to imagine without being there, but I have tried to describe it in a way that allows the reader to feel it, without getting wet!
The landmarks I portray are there, just the way I depict them. The adventure is a real one. The feeling of being totally alive and at the mercy of God and His creation makes the one who dares to take the trip thankful for each and every moment He gives us. I hope you will find in the reading of the events described here a fraction of the sheer joy I felt in living it.
Characters
Zachary Cobb Undercover agent and bounty hunter for the Wells Fargo Company. He is ruthless and will stop at nothing to accomplish his mission.
Jenny Hays Zac’s sweetheart. She loves him but is reluctant to pressure him to give up his work in order to “settle down” with her.
Julian Cobb Zac’s oldest brother. Crippled during The War between the States, he has become a vindictive outlaw bent on securing his own wealth at the expense of the Union Army. Zac has not seen him during the last fifteen years and has only heard rumors of his existence.
Drago Smirking henchman to Julian Cobb. He has been on the “outs” with the law for many years, a career criminal.
Nestor Treacherous accomplice of Julian Cobb.
Simpson Young accomplice of Julian Cobb.
Chupta Apache scout assigned to Zac by the army. He hates all white men, even though he now works on their behalf.
Lawrence Ruggles Professional gambler. He is a jaded traveler, adept at using his wits and common sense to overcome any obstacle.
Amy Franklin Fellow traveler with her grandfather, a gambler “down on his luck.” She has come to mistrust all men, especially those who gamble.
Tommy Franklin Amy’s young brother by her mother’s second marriage. Tommy suffers from a mental and emotional disorder.
Raincloud Apache wife of Ed Hiatt. Educated by missionaries, she, as well as her baby daughter Sunflower, has been abused by her husband.
Ed Hiatt A successful miner who throws his money away at the gambling tables and saloons. Although he bought Raincloud from her father to be his wife, Ed has a hatred for the Indian that he puts aside when it is convenient for him.
Mangus Renegade Yavapai war chief. He is a respected leader of his people and devotee of the new “ghost dance.” He is determined to band the Indian tribes of the desert together to drive the white man from their home.
Gandara Devoted Yavapai assistant to Mangus. He dreams of becoming a leader and studies his Indian hero in the hope of being like him.
Hec Peters Grizzled stage driver and owner of a new stage line that travels the offbeat paths from Tucson to Lee’s Ferry.
Butch Gray Shotgun messenger on the stage. A young, brash hand on the stage with far too many bad experiences with the Indians.
China Mary Brothel owner and madam. She runs a brisk supply of vices ranging from drugs to the fair elements of local saloons.
Philip Carol Son of a very successful mine owner and businessman. He is traveling to Yale, where he is looking to study law.
The Reverend Isaac Black Itinerant circuit-riding preacher. He is a man who shuns the parish ministry and sees his success in ministry to the “far lost.”
Rufus Campbell Renegade seller of guns and whiskey to the Indians.

Contents
Cover
Books by Jim Walker
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About the Author
Author’s Notes
Characters
Map
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 1
The Acme Saloon, Phoenix, Arizona
A hot Tuesday morning in August of 1878
The wind blew a dust devil down the back street, blasting the saloon’s windows with dirt and debris. Not a head turned, except for that of the pretty girl sitting next to her babbling brother. Five men at the green felt table in the back of the Acme stared intently at their pasteboard cards, each striving to maintain his composure after spending an entire night under the flickering lamp. Their intensity made it clear that this was high-stakes poker. A man who betrayed his hand by a look or the way he moved his cards from front to back would go home flat busted.
Overhead, the red lamp swayed slightly, its shadows crawling up the rough, bleached wood walls, then down again. The little boy continued to swing short, spindly legs under the chair and shake his hands as if he were slinging soapy water onto the floor. Repeatedly, he talked in bursts to his silent sister, and then once again began the violent twitching and shaking.
At the table, the children’s grandfather peered at the hand in front of him. Dark circles under his eyes curved up slightly at the corners to meet the downward plunge of heavy eyebrows, which twitched like the tails of two curious squirrels. The old man’s dark suit and large, drooping, black mustache formed a harsh contrast to his flour white complexion. He gently pulled at a black bow tie and curled pudgy white fingers around his cards, his tight grasp turning his perfectly trimmed nails a lifeless white.
One of the gamblers looked across the table at him. “I reckon the bet is one hundred to you, old feller,” he said.
The old man put down his cards and fingered the few remaining bills in front of him. “Arizona, in general, has not been kind to me, I’m afraid, gentlemen. What you see before me is all I have left to get myself and my grandchildren to Utah Territory.”
The man