{"product_id":"under-the-sweetwater-rim-isbn-9780553247602","title":"Under the Sweetwater Rim","description":"Deep in Indian country, Major Mark Devereaux and his men find a grisly scene: a wagon  train savagely attacked, with no survivors. One of the wagons originally with the  group is missing; in it is a fortune in gold and Devereaux’s daughter, Mary. The  slaughter, Devereaux learns, was not the work of Indians but of a murderous outlaw  band. With the stakes rising in a deadly game, the only wild card is Lieutenant Tenadore  Brian, who is riding with the missing wagon—against orders. Devereaux knows Brian  is a good soldier, but is he good enough to protect a saddlebag full of gold . .  . and the life of his daughter?Our foremost storyteller of the American West, \u003cb\u003eLouis L’Amour \u003c\/b\u003ehas thrilled a nation by chronicling the adventures of the brave men and woman who settled the frontier. There are more than three hundred million copies of his books in print around the world.\u003ci\u003eChapter One\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    They had ridden twenty miles since daylight, and at the end of their   day had come upon disaster.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Two hundred feet below and half a mile away the wagon train lay   scattered on the freshening green of the April grass. Death had come   quickly and struck hard, leaving the burned wagons, the stripped and   naked bodies, unnaturally white beneath the sun.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The man in the ill-smelling buckskins brought his mount alongside   Major Devereaux. \"There was fifteen wagons. You can even count 'em   from here. The way they're strung out they must've been hit without   warnin'. Looks like a few tried to pull out of line, like to form a   circle, but they hadn't no time.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"One wagon missing, then.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Plunkett's head swung sharply around. \"Now that ain't likely, Major,   ain't likely a-tall. No Injun is goin' to haul a wagon away, an'   nothin' that big is goin' to slip off unseen. Like you can see, they   was caught in the open.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Major Devereaux did not explain. They were drawing nearer as they   talked and he was studying the charred wagons, forcing himself to   consider only the problems his duty imposed. If Mary was down there   he would know soon enough, and the decision he must make would affect   the lives of the entire command.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Aside from Lieutenant Tom Cahill, Sergeant Gogarty, and Plunkett,   sixty men made up the patrol, forty-two of them raw recruits. They   were two hundred miles west of Fort Laramie, carrying rations for the   return and for two days extra, in case of emergencies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Throughout the severe winter of 1863 and 1864, the Cheyennes and   Arapahoes had remained quiet, but there had been persistent rumors of   Sioux agents in their lodges. Undoubtedly they would be riding the   war trail with first grass.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Major Devereaux, with twenty-seven years of service, was aware that   the lives of men are dictated to an extent far greater than most men   wish to admit, by events beyond their control. Man rides the ocean of   history and does what he can to weather its storms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    He was aware that if his patrol became engaged this far from Fort   Laramie it could expect no assistance. His orders were to avoid   trouble if possible, make a display of strength, and hope the sight   of their uniforms would restrain any ambitious warriors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Far away to the east, and months ago, a great victory had been won at   Gettysburg, but it had brought no relief to the frontier. Only a few   days before the command left the Fort, the commanding general had   withdrawn every man who could be spared from the Indian frontier to   meet a force of Confederate troops assembled south of the Arkansas   River.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Plunkett was obviously correct. It would have been impossible for an   army ambulance to escape during such an attack. If the wagon was   missing, it must have left the train sometime before the attack,   which made no sense at all. Why, in the heart of Indian country, with   attack imminent, would one wagon abandon the comparative safety of   the wagon train? And where could it have gone? Where could it have   planned to go?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Lieutenant Tom Cahill remained silent, but when Plunkett had ridden   away, he said, \"The ambulance your daughter was in, sir, had wider   tires than usual. Sergeant Gogarty explained their advantage to me   before the wagons left the Fort.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Wide tires sank less deeply into the prairie, and therefore the   wagons pulled more easily, but few of the ambulances were so   equipped. Cahill, Devereaux reminded himself, was an observant young   man and he was not above learning from the enlisted men when   opportunity offered. The ability to observe with intelligence and to   learn from all who could teach were invaluable qualities.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Devereaux turned in his saddle. \"Sergeant Gogarty, take a burial   detail and attend to that situation. If there are means of   identifying the bodies, please make a note in each case.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Sir,\" Cahill persisted, \"what I wish to point out is that no such   tracks were in the wagon trails when we intercepted their route. If a   wagon turned off it must have been that wagon, and it must have   turned off more than a dozen miles back.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Major Mark Devereaux looked down at the charred remains and sat   still. Was Mary down there? He was not brave enough to attempt to   identify her body, for if he found her all hope would be gone, and   without Mary he would be nothing. He would be merely an old man,   nearing retirement, with nothing before him but gray years until   death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    His years of military service had left him with little but   experience, and with nothing to leave Mary if he was killed in the   line of duty, or died of those ills the flesh is heir to. His   greatest wish was for her to marry well, and it was this that led to   his objections to Lieutenant Tenadore Brian, and to her presence with   this wagon train.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Like many others of the Indian-fighting army, Tenadore Brian was of   Irish ancestry, and was one of the few soldiers who fought on the   frontier who had also been born there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    At sixteen, his family wiped out by an Indian raid, Brian had left   the Plains country and gone off to sea. Two years later he had joined   the Foreign Legion, and was engaged for seven years in war against   the fierce desert tribes. There he won a battlefield commission and   two decorations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Leaving the Legion, he had joined the Papal Zouaves, on guard at the   Vatican, but after a year he had gone to China, advancing after a few   rapid campaigns to the rank of general. When he returned from China   he had another medal and a sword-cut on his cheekbone. Back in the   States he was commissioned a lieutenant and was shipped to the   frontier.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Lieutenant Tenadore Brian was a tall, lean, wide-shouldered man of   thirty, with a rakish, devil-may-care look to him, a look enhanced by   the scar on his cheek. Without doubt there was no more admired   officer on the frontier, and his men worshipped him. He was the best   rifle and pistol shot in the command, and an excellent swordsman. It   was rumored that he had left the Papal Zouaves after killing one of   the \"black\" nobility in a duel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Major Devereaux had discovered him to be a shrewd, intelligent   officer who took no unnecessary risks, and one who possessed an   amazing knowledge of military tactics and history. No man that he   knew could take out a mounted patrol and bring both men and horses   back in better condition than when they left, no man but Brian.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    He knew Indians as well as did the civilian scouts. As a boy he had   hunted and played with them, learning their customs and their   language. In the Sahara region he had found the tactics of the desert   tribesmen similar to those of the Indians.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Although admiring Ten Brian's skill as a soldier, Major Devereaux   considered him a footloose, drifting ne'er-do-well, an unfit   associate for his daughter, not to be thought of as a potential   husband.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Obviously, Mary had other ideas. For the first time she had become   interested in an officer. She had danced with many, gone with a few   to parties, but on the whole her manner had been reserved around army   men, and Devereaux had been content. And then she had seen Ten Brian.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Suddenly Brian had applied to the commanding officer for a week's   leave, and left the post at once. Scarcely had he gone when Belle   Renick, the matronly but attractive wife of Captain John Renick,   announced her intention of traveling to California for a visit.   Devereaux seized the opportunity to send Mary to her aunt in San   Francisco. He was determined to break the attachment, once and for   all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Devereaux had even tried to use his rank and influence to get Brian   shifted to Washington, his argument being Brian's aptitude for   languages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Remembering the look Lt. Col. Collins had given him, Devereaux   flushed. \"Mark,\" Collins had said, \"I would like to do something for   you. Anything but that. You must realize that Lieutenant Brian is   amazingly equipped for our work. I couldn't spare him.\" Then he   added, \"Give it some thought, Mark. Mary might do a lot worse. That   young man could go far, just as far as he wishes, and Mary might be   just the influence he needs.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Abruptly, Devereaux brought his thoughts back to the present situation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    It lacked an hour to sundown and the men needed rest. He gave the   order, and they moved upstream and camped in the bottom of a valley   two miles from the scene of the massacre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Cahill, he realized suddenly, had not mentioned the tracks of the   ambulance until Plunkett was no longer near them. Was that mere   accident? Or did Cahill share his distrust of the man?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Devereaux considered what he knew of Plunkett. The present commandant   had acquired the services of the scout along with the command, and he   had proved valuable. A skilled tracker, he spoke several of the   Indian languages, and he knew the country. Prior to service with the   army he had been employed by the stage company in the time of Jules   Reni. He was a tough, sour-smelling old man with no friends among   army personnel. As a civilian employee, he came and went as he chose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Plunkett had been absent from the Fort when the sixteenth wagon   joined the train, and when they left the post. Devereaux and his   patrol, with Plunkett as scout, had not come upon the trail of the   wagons until shortly before reaching the scene of the massacre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Realizing he disliked the man, Devereaux reserved judgment, but   Gogarty was almost as good a tracker, and it might be just as well if   the Sergeant was given the chance to do a little scouting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Devereaux hesitated over calling on Turpenning, and then decided   against it. The man from the Smokies was a hunter and a trapper, and   the Major knew that Gogarty considered him the best tracker he had   ever seen, even including Indians.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Devereaux was seated by the fire when Gogarty reported. \"All   identified but two, sir. We know who they were, but the way they were   cut up it's hard to tell which is which.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Did you find Mrs. Renick?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"No, sir. Nor Corporal West nor Schwartz, nor any of them with the   ambulance, sir.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Thank you, Sergeant.\" He hesitated to ask Gogarty to scout the   country before dark. He himself was bone-tired, and he knew the   Sergeant must be also.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Sir?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Yes?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"I was about to ask, sir, that I be allowed to do some looking   around. It won't be dark for half an hour yet.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Thank you, Sergeant. I know you are tired, and I hesitated to ask   you. But there's one thing. Whatever you find, you are not to mention   it to anyone but me. In the event that I should be unable to receive   your communications, you are to give them to Lieutenant Cahill.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    After Gogarty had gone, Major Devereaux tried to exclude all thought   of Mary from his mind. He knew he must be dispassionate; he must   examine the problem coldly in the light of the military situation and   the risk to his command.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    He was still thinking about it when Cahill returned. \"If you will   forgive me, sir. I know you are worried, and I thought . . . well,   sir, Lieutenant Brian might have returned.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    For a moment Devereaux's mind refused to accept the idea, suggesting   an element he had not considered. The relevancy escaped him. \"What do   you mean?\" he asked. \"I fail to see the connection.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Cahill flushed. \"I am sorry, sir. It is none of my affair, but . . .   well, Lieutenant Brian seemed very interested in Miss Devereaux, and   she in him. I thought . . . well, they might have reached an   understanding.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"I believe you are mistaken, Lieutenant. In any event, Lieutenant   Brian left the post several days ago.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"No, sir.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"What?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"One of the . . .\" Cahill hesitated. \"I mean, sir, Ten Brian did not   go east. He was seen in Julesburg by one of the enlisted men.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Major Devereaux's lips tightened. Mary had deceived him. Yet even as   he thought this, fairness cooled his anger. She had made no promises.   She had simply agreed to go with Belle Renick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But as he considered the idea his suspicions grew. Mary was like her   mother in that she rarely opposed him but, like her mother, when she   was determined she had not hesitated to act on her own. A faint smile   softened his hard mouth at the thought of his dead wife. Susan had   seemed so submissive that few realized the clearness of her thinking,   or how determined she could be when convinced she was right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Even as the memory of his wife softened his feeling toward Mary, his   anger hardened toward Ten Brian. The man was an adventurer, shifting   from place to place and from girl to girl as the whim took him. It   was his influence that had brought this situation about, and if   Cahill was right there was no telling where they were or what might   happen to them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But the thought uppermost in his mind was that they were not dead   back there with the others, and they still had a chance for survival.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Thank you, Lieutenant,\" he said. \"Now if you will check the bivouac   area. I shall also want a report on the placing of the guards. You   understand, Lieutenant, the Indians who attacked that wagon train   were armed, and they now have whatever guns and ammunition were   captured. They must be considered extremely dangerous.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Yes, sir. I understand, sir.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    It was not until he started to remove his boots that Major Devereaux   realized how tired he was. \"Mark,\" he said to himself, \"you're not   getting any younger.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Turpenning appeared from the shadows. \"Coffee, suh?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Thank you, Turpenning.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The soldier lingered, and Devereaux waited, knowing the man had   something on his mind. Most of the enlisted men were afraid of   Devereaux, for he had the name of being a strict disciplinarian, but   Turpenning had never seemed awed by that reputation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Was there something else, Turpenning?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Major, we all know Miss Mary was with those wagons, an' likewise we   know we're travelin' on short rations, but the boys, suh, they   elected me to tell you that if you're of a mind to search, they'll   stretch rations, or go without grub. They'll stay with you as long as   need be.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Devereaux was touched. Never in his military career had such an offer   been made to him. He knew he was respected, but this he had not   expected; yet he was rational enough to realize that it was mostly   because of Mary herself. She was unfailingly gracious, always   thoughtful and considerate of the feelings of the enlisted men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Thank them for me, Turpenning. I appreciate it, but the command must   hold strictly to its orders.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Still the man did not leave. \"Suh, we're just a-hopin' you won't cut   it any finer for Miss Mary than for any other woman who might be out   there. We're just a-hopin' you'll throw away the book an' let us go   find her.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"That will be all, Turpenning.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"Yes, suh.\" The Tennessean saluted and turned away into the darkness.","brand":"Bantam","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303247794405,"sku":"NP9780553247602","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780553247602.jpg?v=1767743220","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/under-the-sweetwater-rim-isbn-9780553247602","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}