The Beauty of the Days Gone By
Beautiful. Tragic. Epic. Legendary. Truly American in its nature and in its telling.
a novel
Based on historical events that occurred in Comancheria, the region of West Texas and New Mexico controlled by the Comanche in the 18th and 19th centuries, The Beauty of the Days Gone By is an epic novel that weaves the reminiscences of the legendary plainsman Charles Goodnight, who is facing his mortality, against the backdrop of Reconstruction Texas and the haunting ordeals of a family torn apart by a violent Indian depredation—two brothers hauled way into captivity and the father who searches for them.
Charles Goodnight
“All in all, my years on the trail were the happiest I ever lived. There were many hardships and dangers, of course, that called on all a man had of endurance and bravery. But when all went well, there was no other life so pleasant. Most of the time we were solitary adventurers in a great land as fresh and new as a spring morning. And we were free, and full of the zest of darers.”
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The Boy Captives
Charlie looked out over the hills and his mind wandered. Sam, are you scared of indians?
Sam said nothing. He was deep in thought.
Sam! I asked you, are you scared of indians?
Charlie, stop it! There’s no indians out here. He took a long sweep of the surrounding country with his eyes. The light dying, sky fading to orange. The animals of the night now appearing in the dusk, silent and wary and watching.
The Searcher
....Now the sun was behind them beaming from the hills and they were still two hundred yards from the house when a group of raiders appeared in silhouette upon the ridge. RL watched them loping down the slope and into the pasture toward them and he tried to hurry them along. Come on honey, he said, you’re gonna be alright. She had stopped moving her feet and RL was lifting and dragging her along in irregular, desperate heaves. Suddenly the horse took an arrow and it reared and squealed and he could hear other arrows whistling overhead.
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