Chapter One
They rode up over a trail to a rise with the three scouts in the lead. As they
passed through a patch of juniper trees, the sun turned hot and the very air
around them, with the sawing legs of the hoppers and the twits of the birds,
seemed to hum with heat. Before them was a valley now with dew burning light on
the spots of dying, browned grass. Tall sprigs of Queen Anne's Lace caressed the
horses' legs and speckled the soldiers' boots with their sex.
Coming over a rise they saw the white things on the hills. Bradley's horse
snorted, hesitating, sniffing the air. He kicked it on ahead.
Hah, he called to it.
No one else spoke.
Not even Shit, what in the hell, or Goddamn.
Maybe it was the smell, or the flies, or the wild dogs. The dogs were
everywhere, they darted under the legs of their horses. They yelped wildly at
their horses and gnawed brazenly at their boots. ... read full excerpt from American By Blood: A Novel ebook