Miller, Ron

From an Oath to a Dream

Jake abandons his small herd of yearlings when he hears a desperate scream. He rushes to an abandoned wagon and is horrified to see his beautiful Quaker mother has been raped and murdered by two bull whackers whom he kills with his mother's discarded shotgun. Before he finishes burying her, he discovers a wider conspiracy; his father has also been murdered. He buries them together and swears an oath that he will recover his father's thoroughbreds and bring justice to the men responsible. Jake's saga takes him into a hostile Sioux camp in an attempt to recover some of his thoroughbreds. A few months later he cooperates with a half-breed who turns out to be his cousin. He travels to the Cascades, then back east to Indian Territory and finally West again. He grows to realize that the cost of revenge can be high.