Nate the Texas Story (Nate Champion Duology)
Round Rock, Texas, 1871. Nathan Champion may be the fourth-oldest of former sheriff Jack Champion’s ten offspring, but he is the most memorable. At fourteen, Nate has the muscle to stand up to the school bully when he won’t listen to reason. Like any Texan, he can use a gun but chooses not to as his daddy taught him. Girls like his good looks and his quiet confidence, but he has no time for them in his life. Above all, if given a chore to do, his family and friends know that “Nate don’t know quit.” Nate’s real strength is the patience he shows in training horses. He knows the task is not to “break” a wild horse but to encourage it to trust you. He has learned this skill at the Champion ranch and that of his Aunt Hattie and Uncle George. They have just returned from driving fourteen of their horses to sell in Kansas and tell tales of meeting Wild Bill Hickok, igniting his imagination. Nate’s reputation leads to paid work at other ranches, and with his savings he buys a saddle for his bay, Peaches. The peace is broken, however, when the outlaw Sam Bass targets the bank in Round Rock and recruits one of Nate’s friends and one of his enemies for his gang, which puts Nate’s life in danger.
Warren’s evocative prose paints the Old West in brilliant shades, and his similes and metaphors add to the flavor. This is book one of a duology that takes Nate to age 21 when he decides to leave Texas and take his skills on the trail to Wyoming. His father is proud of the man he has become and trusts that he can take care of himself whatever the future holds.
