Strongheart
by Don Bendell
Summary
A son of both Lakota and white worlds, Joshua Strongheart has two prized possessions--his father’s Bowie knife and his stepfather’s Colt .45 Peacemaker, entrusted to him by his dying mother.
In the Colorado Rockies, Strongheart falls prey to the cold-blooded McMahon brothers who steal his pistol and knife. The brothers are unaware that hidden inside Josh’s money belt are crucial War Department documents, signed by the President, ordering a fair trial for Captain Jack, Chief of the Modoc tribe. Josh must recover both his birthrights and the secret papers before violence erupts across the West.
Excerpt
Joshua stared into the eyes of Long Legs and the tall man got very nervous. He could see this man was trouble, wounded or not.
Westbrook said, “You’re barely able ta stand partner. Drop the hogleg, an I’ll let ya live.”
“Mister, you’ll never touch that woman while there is breath in my body,” Joshua said, “You gonna start the ball or are you gonna talk me to death?”
He saw the ears on Westbrook’s magnificent paint horse shoot forward honing in on something coming down the stage coach road behind him. He figured the gang came back and was slowly moving up behind him.
Joshua made a decision, he fired, fanned the hammer back and fired again, and saw a large stain of crimson in the center of Long Leg’s chest as he fell back dropping his gun. Joshua immediately went to the ground rolling to his right toward the bloody corpse of Chancy, but on his way down he felt a bullet slam into the back of his left shoulder which spun him. He crawled forward quickly to Chancy’s body and drew his gun and spun around, as another bullet slammed into his right thigh. He saw both Stumpy Shaw and Slim Dyer. One held a Winchester and the other a six-shooter.
Instead of firing wildly Joshua knew he had to save the woman no matter how many bullets hit him. He forced himself to stand and fired first at Dyer, the rifleman, and hit him in the right hip, and then a second shot hit Dyer right on the face tearing his lower jaw off. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell back dead.
Stumpy Shaw looked over and was terrorized by the sight of his dead riding partner, and he fired as quickly as he could, one bullet hitting Joshua in the upper left arm. Joshua pointed, aimed, fired, and the bullet hit Shaw in the right cheek, breaking the cheekbone and tearing the man’s ear off. Strongheart limped forward fanning the hammer back to a cocked position, and he squeezed a shot from the hip which hit Shaw’s upper torso center mass.
The outlaw thought to himself. “I’m dead,” and that was his last thought as his back slammed into the rocks.
Now, Joshua turned, and barely able to walk, started towards Long Legs. Annabelle ran forward, tears streaming, “Oh Mr. Strongheart. You have been shot over and over.”
He grinned, “They are just little holes in me. Don’t worry.”
Then he fell forward into her arms in a faint. His weight took both of them to the ground. She tried to lower him as gently as she could while falling with him on top of her. He opened his eyes, and was an inch from her face. They stared briefly into each other’s eyes, and he smiled.
“Annabelle,” he teased, “We just met.”
Reviews
Richly textured historical thriller [and] exhilarating western saga…readers feel they accompany Joshua on the trek... - Harriet Klausner
Don Bendell does for Colorado what Elmer Kelton did for Texas. - Dr. R. Enzenauer
It’s as if you are watching a movie rather than reading a book. - Nicholas Donvito, Sr.
Author's Biography
Don Bendell is the author of 25 books and screenplays for a feature film and television pilot. With over 2,000,000 of his books in print worldwide, Don is also a producer, director, actor, stuntman, cowboy, poet, and speaker. He lives in Colorado with wife Shirley on their ranch.