Western/Cowboy, Cherokee, Outlaw
Date Published: 02-26-2026
Publisher: Write the West Press an imprint of Paperback Press, LLC Springfield, Missouri
For the first time since leaving Europe three years earlier his has a sense of home. He finds customers in the neighboring Cherokee and travelers. More importantly he finds friends. Unknown to Levi is the whereabouts of the outlaw Kirby. Can Levi rely on his new friends and community? Will Levi be able to hold on to what he has built and face the man who thinks nothing except for the destruction of Levi and all he holds dear?
“Queenie is out in front,” Turon
Turtle said, reaching over to put a stick on the fire.
“Stump is close behind,” Ounce
Pathkiller grunted.
The two Cherokee had been speaking
mostly in English for the benefit of the third man, Levi. Known to most in the
area as Little Kansas. A nickname he picked up while cowboying out West where
he had met the Cherokee Turon Turtle.
Born and raised in a poor family in
Poland, fox hunting was foreign to Levi Kuratowski. Only the rich had hounds.
Here he sat with two Cherokee, a hemisphere away from home.
“How can you tell which dog is in
the lead?” Levi asked while staring at the night sky.
“Each dog sounds different. Has its
own voice,. as people do,” Ounce replied.
“Yeah, Queenie has a sharp tone.
She’s the boss. Now, Ounce’s dog Stump has a deeper bark, as if he’s in a well.
Also, he sounds as though he’s way behind Queenie,” Turon added while grinning
and giving Ounce a sidelong glance.
Ounce spoke in Cherokee, too quick
for Levi to understand the words, but he understood the gesture.
“Stump catch that old fox, you’ll
see,” Ounce added.
“Better be an old fox if Stump is
going to catch it.” Turon pulled a tobacco pouch from a coat pocket and
unrolled a small paper between his fingers.
Ounce once again grunted.
“I heard you priced Stump to Ned
Foreman for fifty dollars,” Turon said, carefully dumping tobacco on the paper
then rolling a cigarette.
“Yeah,” Ounce said while accepting
the tobacco pouch and papers from Turon.
Reaching for a burning stick to
light his cigarette, Turon asked, “What makes him worth fifty dollars?”
“I traded two twenty-five-dollar
fighting roosters for him.” Ounce built his own cigarette.
The smiling Turon reignited his
stick and leaned over to offer Ounce a light. “Why don’t you breed Queenie to
Stump? Get some pups,” Levi asked.
“I would rather she got snake bit,”
Turon said, tossing the stick into the fire.
An owl let out his night call not
far away. Levi thought nothing of the bird. The two Cherokee went quiet. Owls
were harbingers of death, giving warnings for the Cherokee. Minutes passed
before anyone spoke.
“I should probably get back to the
wagon and store,” Levi said, standing up to stretch.
Since coming to the Cherokee
Nation, the quiet Jewish immigrant Levi had become a small-time celebrity. A
celebrity brought on by Turon’s exaggerated stories about their trip from Texas
driving Turon’s Hereford bull home. A brief misunderstanding between Levi and
four Cheyenne over the ownership of the bull turned into a full-out battle. A
haphazard capture of an outlaw who tried stealing Levi’s horse on the Cimarron
River became a quick-draw gunfight.
About the Author
Born and raised on the Ozark Plateau. Charlie Amos grew up in the footsteps of outlaws, cowboys, and woodsmen. He currently lives in Oklahoma with his wife, children, and dog Banjo. When he is not tending cattle and kids he is reading and writing about the American West. Years of working in agriculture, forestry, trucking, and teaching school has laid the foundation of telling our American story through relatable characters. Writing westerns for westerners, and everyone else.
Contact Links
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https://mybook.to/CallintheDogs
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