Buffalo Palace: The Plainsmen
Taking up where he left off in Dance on the Wind (LJ 7/95) Johnston sends Titus Bass from St. Louis up the Missouri and Platte to the Rockies, where he joins a trio of fur trappers. Their sadistic leader initiates the greenhorn into the frontier equivalent of "might makes right," beating him savagely when Titus confronts him about pilfering his beaver pelts. Too inexperienced to go it alone, Titus remains with them until the others raft their pelts downriver, abandoning him. Surviving brushes with hostile Indians, he links up with other trappers. The story ends abruptly when, set upon by Blackfeet Indians, Titus is saved by friendly Shoshones, portending a further installment. For the most part well researched, this novel falters only when Johnston digresses at length to summarize events in Dance on the Wind. Recommended for public libraries.-?Robert P. Jordan, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa CityCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.