An excellent mystery that takes place in the western United States in the 19th century. A caravan of Mormon immigrants heading west was attacked by Indians who killed all the members of the caravan, or so they thought. Two had gone into hiding and survived, but their entire family was dead. Their story of survival and all the ingenuity they had to use placed teenagers Shyann Richardson and Lane Tandy together in a hostile country. Lane had been wounded by an arrow and survived, that survival helped Shyann’s infirmary. They had various weapons to protect themselves, but they knew there were too many Indians to fight if they attacked again. They were kept in protected areas as much as possible.
The gang that had attacked the caravan was in the area. Howard, along with a motley crew of Indians and Mexicans, ran it. They made plans to wipe out some of the towns for all the goods their gang needed, no matter how many they killed or humiliated. Meanwhile, Lane’s leg was in very bad shape, he was swelling and needed more medical attention. Shyann’s father had taught him how to make many cures, so he took the bull by the horns and launched it, causing Lane to pass out. The horses of the caravan had taken off and scattered when the attackers arrived. Shyann ran across the horse tracks and followed them, hoping to catch them to help transport them and the supplies they had gathered from the wreckage of the burned caravan. When he found them, the horses were with a couple moving their flock of sheep and, of course, they claimed the horses were theirs. Shyann eventually took the horses with him and used them to help them on the journey to Provo City or wherever they end up arriving. The sheep woman didn’t want to give up those horses but in the end Shyann claimed them.
The battle for the horses continued and finally everyone settled down dividing them, which helped both groups. Another kind of battle was also going on between Shyann and Lane because they were a boy and a girl and their privacy was becoming more and more of an issue as they didn’t want the other to see them while they were trying to wash up and especially when she was checking in his upper thigh wound. Those two created humor. They remembered that there was some of her money hidden in her parents’ wagon and luckily it was still there. That will then help them buy the necessities for themselves. As they headed towards Provo several times, they had to hide so their belongings would not be stolen.
They eventually reached Provo and were viewed with suspicion by the townspeople. They tried to fit in as much as possible and also worked with most Mormons as their religion. They still ran into the gang that had burned the train car even though they tried to avoid them. They wanted to hurt them for killing their families. This story is kept interesting with the many characters that keep popping up on his travels. No boring moments. A great read.