The Stalking Moon

The 19th Century in America was remarkable for many things that formed and shaped the new country that was rapidly expanding from ocean to ocean. Men like the fictional characters, Sam Ogden and Clyde Patterson had been among the first to participate in the wilderness trapping bonanza spawned by the beaver trade and the culture of the top hat. Now, it is the 1840's, and the need for beaver pelts is over. The West was about to see the first signs of a real Western migration, the Oregon Trail. Sam Ogden had invested his "wealth," from his days as a trapper, in the General Store of a southern Colorado settlement, at Grand Junction. With his wife, the Mandan woman, Little Fire, Sam has settled down and is beginning to raise a family. His reputation with the Long Rifle, the frontier Hawken rifle, followed him into the more stable life of the settlement. The Indians at the Rendezvous, started calling him "Sam Long Rifle." His partner, Clyde Patterson, a veteran of the War of 1812, and quite a bit older than "Young Sam," has also taken up life in the settlement. They both became embedded in the process of the western frontier, as it developed the first signs of what the two former trappers called disdainfully, "civilization." Grand Junction was evolving partly because of Clyde and Sam and partly despite them. In the young life of Sam Ogden, several years have gone by since the last time he decided to write down the events of his life on the frontier. During the intervening years he has fathered two children and made many new friends as part owner of the General Store at Grand Junction. In the previous volume, "Sam Long Rifle," Sam and his family have been joined by a large dog, a Pyrenean Sheepdog, they named Ruffian. Also, a hunting expedition has brought an English Nobleman, John, Earl of Wickham to the territory. The Earl has hired "Sam Long Rifle" as his guide into the high Rockies. The Englishmen plan to spend the winter high in the mountains while Sam is supposed to return to Grand Junction for the winter. Plans like this have a funny way of going wrong, very wrong. This 13th volume, "The Stalking Moon," tells that story.