Dark Passage

Skye's West #10

by Richard S. Wheeler

It is 1831 and Barnaby Skye, a deserter from the British Royal Navy and now a seasoned trapper in the Rocky Mountains, accompanies his Crow wife, Mary Quill Woman--whom he calls "Victoria"--to her village on the Yellowstone River. Victoria--unhappy with her husband's drinking and his unwillingness to join her people's fight against their sworn enemies, the Blackfeeet--succumbs to the entreaties of Jim Beckwourth, the much-honored and wealthy mulatto war chief of the Crow People.


But when Victoria is abducted by the Bloods, the deadliest band of Blackfeet, Skye trails her across the border into Canada, where he is still wanted for deserting his ship at Fort Vancouver four years ago. But the Bloods are a deadly force, and Skye must face his fiercest battle ever to win her freedom and her heart.  

Genres: Westerns

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

There are other authors with this name. One writes Marine Corps history. Another, Civil War history. Another writes in the political sciences.

Richard S. (Shaw) Wheeler was born in Milwaukee in 1935 and grew up in nearby Wauwatosa.

Reviews

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long-time trapper and mountain man Barnaby Skye is experiencing anything but domestic tranquility these days. It’s summer, and he is attending the annual famous rendezvous wherein the mountain men gather to drink, trade, and party. He paid for three jugs of trader whiskey, and he spends a good bit of the time at the rendezvous roaring drunk. His Crow tribe wife, Mary Quill, named Victoria by Skye, has had enough. She’s prepared to abandon Skye and return to her ancestral home. Coincidentally, the fur company for whom he works wants him to do some business with Victorias people. He figures he has the best of both worlds; she gets to go home for the winter; he gets to (figuratively speaking) deduct the trip as a business expense.

On their first day out, they run into a group of Pawnee Indians which steal their horses and all their possessions. Angry, Skye vows to get back all his belongings. She disagrees, insisting they can walk to her people if necessary. But the loss wounded his pride, and he’s not letting go that easily. Despite all kinds of bluster, he fails to retrieve his possessions, and in ignominy, they walk to the home of Victoria’s people. The closer they draw to the place, the happier she grows and the more depressed he becomes. The longer they remain with the people, his wife distances herself from him and the Crow tribe ignores him. By chapter seven, you’re feeling sorry for Skye. It’s not a situation you usually find him in if you read the series.

But things worsen for the erstwhile couple. Victoria accompanies her flashy mulatto new husband, and Skye leaves the village in ignominy only to become essentially a prisoner to a rival fur company.

Wheeler’s books are unfailingly thought-provoking. He must have been a keen observer of people and life when he was among us. His books reflect that. They are far deeper and more thoughtful than a superficial Zane Gray western, and they’re far less formulaic. You see the development of these characters and the ways in which their circumstances change them for the better. He is adept at showing you how Victoria and Skye change as a result of their separate but simultaneous captivity. I’ve jumped around through this series and not read it consecutively. But I’ve enjoyed every experience I’ve had with this author, and this was no exception.

[Fay Risner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this western because it features the Crow Indian tribe and gives a good account of how the Indians survived in warm weather and didn't survive as well in the winter as civilization made wild game and the buffalo harder to find. The main characters are well written. Barnaby Skye, a British citizen, is unhappy living among his wife's tribe, feeling like an outcast. He knows his wife, Victoria, was just as unhappy living among trappers. While Barnaby wrestles with his demons, his wife is spending most of her time in a tepee with a charming trapper out to see how many Crow wifes he can accumulate. Barnaby's struggles really begin when the trapper succeeds at getting Victoria to leave her husband.

[Topher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2nd book in the series about the british-seaman turned mountain man. Excellently written, goes down smooth, and provides plenty of entertainment.