Sioux Summer

Sioux Summer is the second volume of the Beckoning West series. The brothers Jacque and Jeremiah separate with Jeremiah heading west into the western USS plains with Jacque heads north into Canada’s Thunder Bay region where he runs into trouble with the Hudson Bay Company. While their sister Jacqueline marries an immigrant German man named Dietz who builds an empire of his own on the border at Sault Ste Marie. Here is an excerpt. The pain in his head was beyond description. Jacque couldn’t know it but the lead ball had hit at an angle ripping along the side of his skull, gouging a furlough along the side of his head. What he did understand was that these men had been willing to kill him for the fur they had stolen. They had set the stakes in this game and he was determined to cash in. After working his way many miles downriver he thought he could smell wood smoke. Slowing, he quietly moved closer alert to every sound around him. The sun would be rising soon and he planned his attack based on advantages to be had. Working his way around the camp to the east he waited behind a rock where he could watch without being seen. The first man to rise in the camp was the Indian he had yelled to before he was shot. The man walked out of the camp to relive himself and gather more dead wood for the fire which had burnt low. Next to rise was the red bearded man he knew as McLeod who went directly to the fire with a blanket draped around his shoulders. When the first native man returned he kicked his companion who still lay sound asleep telling him to get up. Soon they all gathered around the fire either cooking or trying to work the cold out of their bones. Jacque watched as the first light of day crept closer and closer to where the three men sat. From where he watched he appraised the fighting ability’s of each man. The older Indian was sure to be a fighter, his younger companion might put up a fight as well, but Jacque figured McLeod would be the bigger obstacle. The nearest firearm to any of them was his own Hawkins rifle that sat against a tree a few steps away from the younger Indian man. The sunlight shone brightly as it crept closer to where they sat warming themselves and Jacque waited picking his moment. Behind him a squirrel chatters loudly his discontent at having Jacque under his tree. At first the noisy squirrel was ignored by the men at the fire. Then the older Indian looked almost directly at the rock and said something to the younger man. The younger man stood up and walked to where the Hawkins was, there he stood another moment watching and listening. Then he picked up the rifle and started walking slowly towards the rock. Jacque took one quick look seeing the men at the fire shading their eyes as they looked directly into the rising sun now. When the young man closed to about twenty feet, Jacque sprang to his feet and threw the knife as hard as he could, burying it in the young man’s chest. Dropping his right hand to his belt he pulled the belly gun and fired at the other Indian, as he charged the men at the fire. The bullet caught the man left of center and only turned him as he realized the danger and charged at Jacque knife in hand. Jacque reacted quickly dropping the gun and grabbing his tomahawk. As Jacque engaged the older Indian McLeod ran to his pack frantically searching for a weapon. Jacque brought the tomahawk down hard over the man’s head and quickly turned swinging sideways into his chest. Then he rushed after McLeod who was just turning around having found his gun. As McLeod was pulling the hammer back something hit him hard in his chest. He looked down and saw that the blade of the tomahawk was buried deep in his chest, as the dark red blood seeped out around it. Jacque rushed up to where McLeod dropped and took the gun from his hand. “I thought you were dead”, McLeod faintly whispered. “When you kill a man you best make sure he is dead”.