excerpts from Revenge and Redemption: The Chisolm and Santa Re Trails, by Dan'l C. Markham
Trouble
Chapter 1
I am a man on the move with a mission. Up the trail will be a serious shoot out. I intend to be on the killing end of the shoot ‘n. It matters not whether I live or die; just that I get done what must be done. My mission is revenge. My cause is righteous. My means is lethal. Since the War I made it my business to be the fastest draw that could be found, and the best shot t’boot, whether with pistol or rifle. Darn good with my long knife; better than most. Have to be ready at the drop of the hat to take care of my business – the death of five no count former Blue Bellies. I’ll get ‘em. They’ll all die at my hands. It’s my destiny and theirs.
Two days previous it had been hotter than spit on a fired up skillet. But it’s spring time in Texas when weather can be a might temperamental, sea-sawing from one extreme to the other. Today the wind is plenty strong with a cold bite to it, whipping out of the Dakotas through the Kansas and Indian Territory prairies into the pastures of central Texas.
Have ‘n put my mount up at the livery stable I push against the northerly bone chilling wind, walking at a steady pace up Main Street of Waco. Holding my Stetson to my head with my left hand, pulling my rawhide woolen jacket’s collar with my other hand up against my chin, I am headed to one of the town’s favorite haunts – the Coleman Saloon. I will be drink ‘n whiskey with Lew, as Lew Coleman had become the only person I could come close to calling a friend, although I don’t call him such. Still he is the only man in Waco that regularly partook of whiskey with me. A whiskey or two would warm up my innards just fine....More to come.