“Well, I don’t know about that,” Hawk stammered, “but I wish you folks all the luck in the world. Thank you for the dinner, but I best be on my way.” He nodded good-bye to them all as they followed him out to his horses. Aboard Rascal, he wheeled the big buckskin away from the hitching rail and headed for Fort Ellis. He had to pick up his pay for the patrol just finished and he had work to do on his cabin. He didn’t get a chance to plug that hole near the back door and the last time he was away for a while he found a raccoon in the cabin. If the critters kept working at that hole, he might find a bear in the cabin one day. After he crossed the river and pointed Rascal toward the Big Belt Mountains, he caught sight of a hawk as it flew across his path and lit on the limb of a tall pine. The sight brought a smile to his face and he thought about Donald Lewis’s interest in having him lead the Quaker survivors to Helena. You ain’t trying to tell me something, are you? He reached up and touched the feather Winter Flower had exchanged with him. Trying to be sensible about the possibility of accepting Lewis’s offer, he thought, I’ve got a lot of friends in Helena. But when he concentrated on it, all his mind could conjure was the image of Sophie Hicks, and that brought another smile to his face.

Teaser chapter

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MASSACRE AT CROW CREEK CROSSING
A COLE BONNER WESTERN
by Charles G. West

FIRST COMES BLOOD
Cole Bonner will never forget what happened
to his family at Crow Creek Crossing.
His wife, her parents, and their three young
children—brutally slaughtered by outlaws.
The horror of the massacre drove him into the
wilderness. Drove him nearly mad. And drove him
to seek an equally brutal revenge . . .

THEN COMES CARNAGE

Now, against his better judgment, Bonner is
returning to the place that almost destroyed him.
While hunting in the mountains, he discovers that a
man has been murdered and his wife abducted.
He manages to track the killers and free her. But to
bring the widow to safety, he will have to face his
own demons. Return to his old homestead.
And relive the violence—and the vengeance—
of another massacre at Crow Creek Crossing . . .

Look for Massacre at Crow Creek Crossing
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CHAPTER 1

Cole Bonner stood up again after having put the mortally wounded deer out of her misery. He looked back when he heard Harley Branch pushing through the willows beside the busy stream behind him.