There
were no official – yet ‘unofficial’ –
After the
Civil War, the country was growing quickly. By 1868, the nation had left infancy and was
now toddling, fast and furiously, toward Manifest Destiny. Except for the barrier of the American Indian,
the West was wide open for this wobbling stroll. Yet, just as a parent must guard against
potential hazards for a toddler, this emerging nation had to shield against unseen
dangers from rapid growth. Issues such as national sovereignty,
boundaries, settlers, and indigenous populations had to be handled with kid
gloves so as not to sully the hand of the nation. The
country needed a special kind of man to deal with these hazards in a covert
manner. This is a tale about such a man,
the woman he saves and the youth he inspires.
Shamus Ghillie
is a half-Choctaw – half-Irish elite ex-Confederate soldier who is, also, a man of the wild and untamed
West. But, he’s equally a man of rare and unusual
skills as a hunter of both animals and – men. It is
Ghillie, with his unique talents that President Grant wants to secretly enlist
to handle the trouble along the boundary of the newly formed nation of Canada,
just north of
the
But, men like
Ghillie don’t come easily, and, if they come at all, they don’t come
cheap. Shamus distrusts government – any government –
but the money’s good, and he has a kid sister to consider. And, truth be told, he would’ve taken on this
task to acquire justice for the Blackfeet – free of charge – had they not offered
the fee. So, he
becomes the nation’s first official, yet unofficial, spy with the U.S. Secret
Service.
And thus
begins an adventurous story that takes in a part of the nation’s
early expansion
westward and the people – bluecoat, red and white alike –
who made American
history:
