Joel 'Hatchets' Miller: Battling the Bozeman

““My stumble was an accident, mister. Your action was deliberate.”
Steve felt himself being pushed away unceremoniously with an elbow as Ed took a couple of paces backwards in order to give himself sufficient room to draw, and raise, his pistol. The man with the bottle moved a whole lot faster. A hard right flick of his wrist broke the bottom off the bottle, leaving an evil looking circle of jagged, razor sharp, glass - poking up and away from the hand holding it. Continuing with the same movement the glass container was brought upwards at speed, slashing hard from front to back on the left side of the other man’s neck. It finally came to a halt when thrust firmly upwards, where it became embedded in the area of soft skin underneath Ed’s lower jaw. Steve’s riding buddy sank slowly to his knees, the left shoulder and front of his shirt becoming almost instantly saturated in a flood of gushing red. Each time his heart beat once so the flow of the thick, crimson, life-giving fluid would increase.”

The Bozeman Trail wagon master, Joel ‘Hatchets’ Miller, takes over the spotlight in this the fifth novel.
He’s accompanied on his frequent journeys by a Chiricahua ‘dikohe’ – an extremely rare term when used in reference to a female, even an Apache. It’s used to describe an individual who has undergone a period of intense warrior training, in preparation for a life of constant conflict.

The characters are many - as well as varied.
Two former store keepers from back east, seeking a new life as would be prospectors, who happen to be at the right place to save Joel from a slow death.
We have a hard-bitten US lawman with a particularly brutal method of bringing in his most deadly, violent, prisoners. Now he finds himself distracted from what was to be his next pursuit to exact revenge on behalf of an elderly woman whose husband was brutally murdered. He’s riding with a partner on this trip – one who’s looking for a little excitement.
The two men he’s seeking for the violent killing are themselves interested in a trio of riders who are earnestly looking to recover the valuable contents of a strong box for the owner of the Montana Gold and Mineral Company – the MGMC. As it is, they’re currently unaware what they’re searching for is in the possession of Joel and his companions.
There’re others equally involved in this tale.
Whether interested solely in the riches which were originally to be found within the metal container or in someone who is – all have a legitimate reason to be there!
Then there’s the band of marauding Sioux – who are never to be ignored.
Currently creating their own brand of mayhem and causing trouble for all!

Will Joel and his friends successfully evade the evil intentions of the Sioux, and the other ‘interested’ parties, and make it around to Virginia City while still retaining the riches which came their way by sheer chance?
It won’t be easy…………….!