Cowan Family Saga

He was a greenhorn but didn't know it. When Bruce Cowan takes his family and flees Boston to homestead out west, he figured the journey to California to be long but safe. Their first day out reveals how wrong he is and the perilous dangers of the Santa Fe Trail. It would have been a massacre but for Trent and Pat MacLeod. Trent favors a Sharps.50 caliber buffalo rifle, while his younger brother Pat packs two Texas Navy Colts. They both prove deadly and a force to be reckoned with. The Cowans and the McLeod brothers forge a bond those first few days, sustained in part by Trent's attraction to the eighteen-year-old Becky Cowan. His overtures are not returned. The brothers join the Cowans on their hazardous journey west as they face harsh conditions, bandits, and Indian attacks. Will their oxen survive the trip? Will the man Bruce Cowan is fleeing catch up with them? Should they take the Cimarron Cutoff through the desert or stick with the Santa Fe Trail through the mountains? Even with the help of Trent and Pat, the Cowans are forced to learn quickly to survive the rigorous demands of the Wild West.

After Fort Dodge, wagon master Bruce Cowan had hoped the journey to Wagon Mound would get easier. That lasted but a few days. It horrified the settlers when they came across the burning remains of a smaller wagon train. Not one survivor. Bandits attacked this time, not Indians. Every day brings a fresh crisis. Trent and Pat, the McLeod brothers, with their gun fighting skills, provide Bruce and the wagon train protection and much needed guidance. Sometime even that isn't enough when they face mother nature at her most destructive. The savage Comanches are on the warpath. The Arapahos are also on a killing spree since the massacre of Sand Creek. Trent and Pat do their best to avoid these threats. When attacked, many times by surprise, there are deadly consequences. Throughout it all, Trent tries his best to get closer to Becky Cowan. Just when he thinks things are going well, something else comes up to drive a wedge between them again. The settlers must remain on guard at all times as obstacles confront them. Will the Cowans reach Wagon Mound or perish in the desert as others have before them? Should they continue their perilous journey west or leave the trail and set up their homestead?

The Cowans have arrived in Texas to homestead. After their dangerous trek west, they want to settle, free from worry and danger. With the help of his son, Wes, the McLeod brothers, and Pony Boy, Bruce is ready to raise his cabin. Unfortunately for them, their troubles have just begun! They discover that Cord McGregor, the cattle baron they had a run in with on the Santa Fe Trail, has a spread nearby. To make matters worse, the cattle ranchers are in a range war against homesteaders and sheepherders. McGregor and the other ranchers aren't their only problem. There's a tribe of hostile Apaches nearby and the Owens gang to the north. Caught between three different enemies, Bruce raises his log cabin, hoping his family can live in peace. It's not to be. Amid the growing issues that threaten the lives of the settlers, Trent waits for the perfect time to ask Becky to marry him. Forced once again to defend themselves, the McLeod brothers face their deadliest foes yet. They can't move on this time. The stakes are high. Life or death. They must protect their lives and their homestead, or die. Will they ever live in peace?