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It
goes like this...
Following the American Civil War, the Spades were forced
to leave their
firstborn, Jonathan, with a tribe of friendly
Indians because someone
may have been after them. They settled in the Wyoming
frontier town of
Paradise
with their two other sons, Willie Jay and the
youngest,
Virgil,
but were killed by unknown hands before they could
retrieve him.
Johnny was raised by Indians until his early adulthood, when the tribe was wiped out mysteriously. Finding them dead when he returned from a lone hunting trip, he took to traveling, looking for his real family, becoming a marshal in the process. Eventually, he found Paradise and his two brothers. By then, having grown up without their parents for most of their lives, the somewhat badly adapted Willie Jay had become a prospector mining the family land and Virgil, calling himself "Ace", was a professional gambler not always on the right side of the law. Jonathan's goal thus became to reunite his family and keep his brothers out of trouble. Recently... When Simone Lorcquet came to town, she shook things up, and not just with her singing at the theater house. All three brothers found her interesting though it would be Ace who would court her more actively. Not that it was all fun and games! Ace had to deal with a rather nasty loan shark by the name of Oily Pete, and Jonathan had to contend with the racist Sheriff Vaugnharvey. And what of "model" citizen Jeremiah Dark, a rich rancher from the South who knew their parents and seemed to be hiding something? It sometimes seemed like their only friends were Mayor Thorndike, who was a friend of their parents, and young Jesse Waylons, Johnny's dime novel-addicted deputy. They were never able to prove that Dark was behind the hijackings of multiple caravans bringing supplies to the town by outlaws masked with yellow handkerchiefs, and when the supplies ran too low, the brothers went (not all voluntarily) to a nearby Comanche village to trade for some. A few Native games later, and they had the stuff, including a shield made from the pages of a Bible and a dagger with a strange inscription. This clue leads the brothers on a quest to find its owner, an outlaw who may have stolen and hidden a gem of great value. But before they follow up on it, the Comanche that helped them, now attack Paradise because they've fallen victim to a disease (curse) from something traded to them. The town is defended, and in the process, Ace makes friends with one of Oily Pete's men, sympathetic Jimmy "Da Gun". Now following their leads, they ride to Salvation, and then to Rosary, all the while disturbed by dreams of wolves come to revenge themselves on the owners of weapons used to kill Comanche. A gem will be found in Rosary's cemetery that allows the brothers to at least pay off Ace's debts. On this trip they meet Lupita, an explosives smuggler Johnny has to bring to justice, but she gets away (without her merchandise). Willie Jay seems interested in her, but he kinda smells, you know? Back home, Ace decides he'll go to Casper soon to participate in a poker tournament, and then there's another attack on a convoy. Johnny rides out to stop them and... SHIFT> |