The Tan-Faced Children

Description

For Clay Baker, the path was clear: forced into exile in the Idaho Territory wilderness by the abrupt failure of a small bank where he had begun his career, he must now learn to master the harsh environment before it masters him. And even worse, despite its awesome natural beauty, the territory offers some of the least beautiful people Clay could ever hope to encounter. Riding deep into the rugged terrain of Jackson's Hole with a mountain man and his Indian wife, he reluctantly acquires the skills necessary to his survival. Food is scarce, friends scarcer, and the winters colder than a man could imagine. As he learns to cope with the dangers that each new day brings, Clay strengthens his body and character almost without realizing it. He must watch friend turn against friend, and disease and madness turn against both. Month after month he endures the hardships of the territory, with no reward except the faint hope that he might live to return to society and his chosen profession.