Winter Rain

Praise for the novels of Terry C. Johnston

CRY OF THE HAWK

THE SON OF THE PLAINS TRILOGY

CARRY THE WIND, BORDERLORDS
, AND
ONE-EYED DREAM

BOOKS BY TERRY C. JOHNSTON

Cry of the Hawk
Winter Rain
Dream Catcher

Carry the Wind
Borderlords
One-Eyed Dream

Dance on the Wind
Buffalo Palace
Crack in the Sky
Ride the Moon Down
Death Rattle
Wind Walker

S
ONS OF THE
P
LAINS
N
OVELS

Long Winter Gone
Seize the Sky
Whisper of the Wolf

T
HE
P
LAINSMEN
N
OVELS

Sioux Dawn
Red Cloud’s Revenge
The Stalkers
Black Sun
Devil’s Backbone
Shadow Riders
Dying Thunder
Blood Song
Reap the Whirlwind
Trumpet on the Land
A Cold Day in Hell
Wolf Mountain Moon
Ashes of Heaven
Cries from the Earth
Lay the Mountains Low

How solemn and beautiful is the thought that the earliest pioneer of civilization, the van-leader of civilization, is never the steamboat, never the railroad, never the newspaper, never the Sabbath-school, never the missionary—but always whiskey! … Westward the Jug of Empire takes its way!

—Mark Twain

The Texas Rangers … had an off and on existence ever since 1823, when Stephen F. Austin formed a band of ten Rangers to protect the first American settlements from Indians…. From that time on—throughout all their ups and downs, disappearances and reappearances—the Rangers were irregulars. They were irregular as hell, in everything except getting the job done.

—Oliver Knight

The more Indians we can kill this year, the less will have to be killed the next war.

—General William Tecumseh Sherman

Destiny is nothing more than the unforeseen coincidence of events, the emergence into action of hidden forces which, in a complex and disordered society … no contemporary can be expected to discern.

—Guglielmo Ferrero

^*
Jonah Hook

^*
Hattie Hook

^*
Ezekiel Hook (Antelope)

^*
Prairie Night (Antelope’s Comanche wife)

^*
Gritta Hook

^*
Jeremiah Hook (Tall One)

^*
Shadrach Sweete

^*
Pipe Woman

^*
Toote Sweete / Shell Woman

^*
High-Backed Bull

Danites

^*
Colonel Jubilee Usher

^*
Heber Welch

^*
Frank Bolls

^*
Charlie Smythe

^*
Joseph Simes

^*
Oran Strickler

^*
George

^*
Orem Slade

^*
George Hines

^*
Harry Hampton

Cheyenne

Roman Nose

^*
Hair Rope

Little Hawk

Tall Bull

^*
Wolf Friend

^*
Plenty of Bull Meat

^*
Tall Sioux

^*
Bullet Proof

^*
Red Cherries

^*
Four Bulls Moon

Porcupine

^*
Wrinkled Wolf

Starving Elk

White Horse

^*
Bad Heart

^*
Yellow Nose

^*
White Man’s Ladder

^*
Feathered Bear

^*
Heavy Furred Wolf

Lakota

Pawnee Killer

^*
Bad Tongue

Kwahadi Comanche

Quanah Parker

^*
Wolf Walking Alone

^*
Snake Brother

^*
Coal Bear

^*
Bums Red

^*
Standing

^*
Rain Woman

^*
Bridge

^*
Big Mule

^*
Dives Backward

^*
Old Owl Man

^*
Tortoise Shell

^*
Four Spirits Woman

Shoshone / Snake

^*
Two Sleep

Military

Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie—commanding, Fourth Cavalry

Major Eugene A. Carr—commanding. Fifth Cavalry

Major William B. Royall—Fifth Cavalry

Texas Rangers

Major John B. Jones—Commander, Frontier Battalion

^*
Captain Lamar Lockhart—commanding Company C

^*
Deacon Elijah Johns—Lieutenant, Company C

^*
Niles Coffee—Sergeant, Company C

^*
Clyde Yoakam—Second Sergeant, Company C

^*
June Callicott

^*
John Corn

^*
Harley Pettis

^*
Wig Danville

^*
Enoch Harmony

^*
Slade Rule

^*
Billy Benton

Civilians

^*
Nate Deidecker

^*
Heber Usher

Major Frank North

Captain Luther North

Lieutenant Gustavus W. Becher

Lieutenant Billy Harvey

William Schmalsle

^*
Ezra Dickinson

William F. Cody

H
E CAME AWAKE
with a struggle.

The overwhelming enemies were musky in their sweat-slicked red skins. Their heaving breath stank like rancid meat in his nostrils. The muzzles of their guns exploded in his face like the roar of riven earth on Judgment Day.