This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. In the drumbeat haze of a Civil War camp at Germantown, the army prepares to move, and a quiet, limping soldier named Ira Parcel immediately stands apart. Beneath his farmer-like plainness lies a soldier's bearing and a mind too educated for the rough company around him, especially the blunt, suspicious Tod Barkeloo, who senses there is more to Parcel than he admits. As grumbling men crowd the camp and complain about the campaign and Washington's leadership, Parcel unexpectedly erupts in fierce defense of the commander, revealing a hidden loyalty that sparks a hard-fought confrontation. Parcel's skill in the fight, his refusal of a corporal's promotion, and his calm, gentlemanly manner only deepen the mystery. Tod, convinced he has found a possible spy, begins tracking him through the confusion of marching orders, a dropped regiment button, and a trail that seems to connect him to an artillery unit and Lieutenant Jerry Caswell. When night falls, the army sets out in silence through fog and exhaustion toward the enemy, and the contrast between crude soldier talk and Parcel's reflective, poetic nature heightens the suspense of this tense, character-driven wartime opening.

À propos de l'auteur

Haycox, Ernest

Ernest James Haycox (October 1, 1899 - October 13, 1950) was an American author of Western fiction.
Born in Portland, Oregon, to William James Haycox and the former Martha Burghardt, he attended local schools of both Washington state and Oregon. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1915 and was stationed along the Mexican border in 1916. During World War I he served in Europe, and after the war he spent one year at Reed College in Portland. In 1923, he graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. He married Jill M. Chord in 1925 and the couple had two children.
Haycox published two dozen novels and around 300 short stories, many of which appeared first in pulp magazines in the early 1920s. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was a regular contributor to Collier’s Weekly from 1931 and The Saturday Evening Post from 1943. Fans of his work included Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.
His story Stage to Lordsburg (1937) was made into the movie Stagecoach (1939), directed by John Ford and featuring John Wayne in the role that made him a star. The novel Trouble Shooter (1936), originally serialized in Collier’s, was the basis for the movie Union Pacific (1939), directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Haycox wrote the screenplay for Montana (1950), directed by Ray Enright, which stars Alexis Smith and Errol Flynn.
Haycox died in 1950, at the age of 51, in Portland. In 2005 the Western Writers of America voted Haycox one of the 24 best Western authors of the Twentieth Century.