The Best Man

For many moons Cuchillo Oro had tortured himself with memories of why he was sworn to kill Cyrus L Pinner. The humiliation of his capture by the cruel horse-soldier...the horrible agony he'd endured when the Indian-hating officer cut off his index finger for "stealing" an ornate golden knife...the senseless slayings of his wife and baby … were grisly reminders of the white man's injustices to an innocent people, and, for the young brave, there was no turning back.Resuming his hunt for revenge, Cuchillo recalls the words of the ancient medicine man, Black Cave, who has warned that the mighty Apache warrior will always be doomed to failure … until the hated horse-soldier is married and the father of a son.Then, once again, Cuchillo does cross the path of his avowed enemy-this time on the eve of the cavalry captain's wedding.With his fabled Golden Knife in hand, the avenging Apache awaits as Pinner pledges his troth … unaware that the bonds of matrimony may also seal his fate. William M. James was the pseudonym of John Harvey, Terry Harknett and Laurence James. Most people call him Cuchillo, the Apache word for knife. That's short for Cuchillo Oro, the golden knife.He gave himself the name in 1861-the year he swore vengeance upon the white man, the year an Indian-hating army officer cut off his index finger for "stealing" an ornate golden knife, the year his wife and infant son were murdered by an army lieutenant.He's six feet three inches tall, but he's a big man in more ways than one. He's the grandson of the great chief Mangas Colorado. He's seen his people mistreated, lied to, falsely accused, and cruelly punished-and he can't forget. Not while the white man walks on his land.An expert with the knife, rifle, gun, and bow, Cuchillo rides alone and moves everywhere, everywhere there are white men, unafraid to kill or be killed. There's no turning back now, not for Cuchillo and not for the white men who have persecuted his innocent people.There is only revenge.