Ghost Tribe - William Post - Bog

At the age of thirteen, Ben Carson (Lee) was on a wagon train that was ambushed by Indians. Miraculously, he was saved from the slaughter when he was inadvertently locked under the seat of their wagon. He was the lone survivor. After burying his parents and two sisters, he continued west on foot. He met an Indian who had been kicked out of his tribe and left to die. The Indian had been schooled by missionaries and spoke excellent English. The two became friends and decided to form their own tribe. Being that the Indian's first name started with Le, Ben decided that both of them should have the last name of Lee. Ben called the Indian Chief Lee. At the first town they encounter, they found a girl named Cary Elder. She had been sold to several men but now had been kicked out because she had sores all over her caused by chicken pox. Ben befriends her, and she took the name Cary Lee. They pick up several other people to enlarge their tribe. They reach Denver and make their fortune. The saga is filled with adventures and love stories. As in nearly all Post's novels, they are kept to around two hundred pages as to not make his books a project, just an interesting read for a couple of nights.