Dark Days in Utah
(2022)(The third book in the Chris Weaver Western series)
A Novella by Paul Bedford
As a direct consequence of the events in ‘Fort Bridger’s War’, a party of hapless settlers are stranded without anywhere near enough horses and mules to pull their remaining thirty-six wagons to a new life in Oregon. Chris Weaver, still happily besotted with Ellie Teal, determines to recover their stolen animals from the Shoshone Indians by any means necessary. Sadly, events take a disastrous and bloody turn, and he is left with only one further option.
In the mostly empty wastes of Utah Territory, the only other place to obtain more draught animals is the Mormon capital of Salt Lake City. Reluctantly accepting his intention to journey there, the settlers entrust Chris with their dwindling supply of Gold Eagles. Unfortunately, in a country now at war with itself, such a move is akin to entering a snake pit, because the city’s occupants are notoriously wary and aggressive towards outsiders. And the outbreak of the Civil War has only increased their suspicions.
On the way there, Chris, in company with Ellie and wagon train guide Chet Tolson, encounters an old comrade from the Mexican War: the aptly named Isaac Haight, who now works for the Mormons as a hunter. After saving him from attack by Paiute Indians, they assume that he will press their case with the religious settlement’s leader, Brigham Young.
Unfortunately lust, for both profit and the female sex, means that Haight can’t be trusted further than he could be thrown. And when the newly appointed federal governor turns out to be a rapist urgently seeking to flee the territory, the three settlers find themselves beset with more troubles than they could shake a stick at.
Genre: Western
In the mostly empty wastes of Utah Territory, the only other place to obtain more draught animals is the Mormon capital of Salt Lake City. Reluctantly accepting his intention to journey there, the settlers entrust Chris with their dwindling supply of Gold Eagles. Unfortunately, in a country now at war with itself, such a move is akin to entering a snake pit, because the city’s occupants are notoriously wary and aggressive towards outsiders. And the outbreak of the Civil War has only increased their suspicions.
On the way there, Chris, in company with Ellie and wagon train guide Chet Tolson, encounters an old comrade from the Mexican War: the aptly named Isaac Haight, who now works for the Mormons as a hunter. After saving him from attack by Paiute Indians, they assume that he will press their case with the religious settlement’s leader, Brigham Young.
Unfortunately lust, for both profit and the female sex, means that Haight can’t be trusted further than he could be thrown. And when the newly appointed federal governor turns out to be a rapist urgently seeking to flee the territory, the three settlers find themselves beset with more troubles than they could shake a stick at.
Genre: Western
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