Last Scout by Wade Everett

 

“Another thing too,” he said. “A man picks his work because he is what he is. When a man ain't afraid to try himself, to find out what he is, he'll take a job with some risk. When he ain't man enough to do that, he clerks in a store, or counts plews another man fetches to him. It's always been that way, boy. Back in the days of the fur trade, them rich titled fellows would come out and run the tradin’ posts. They'd faunch about in knee britches and sniff snuff and keep books. Then go back to New Orleans and tell what a tough time it was, how cold it got in the winter.” He laughed. “They thought they was livin’, boy, but the livin’ was a far piece out, to a place they'd never see, on account of it took a man to just get there. You see them far places, boy. You go when the itch gets you, and don't come back till you've seen it all.”

We stopped in front of the express office. “You're an old pirate, grandpa.” He took it the way I meant it, as a compliment, and he gave me a near toothless grin, “Yeah, I've bayed it the moon and made a couple of trips to hell just to see what it was like down there. But I got no regrets. Life’s a strong taste, boy, and only a few are man enough not to choke on the sweetness of it, or wretch on the gall.”

My second Everrett [Will Cook] novel after the excellent First Command [also reviewed here.]

In comparison it is the lesser of the two.

That fault may be mine; it is from the POV of a boy which gives the novel the feel of a “young adult” effort.

That does not prevent Everett/Cook from providing enjoyment and…

A good amount of Wisdom with a capital W.

As in this example…

“It don't bother man to die when he knows he's doing somethin’. It only bothers him he knows all that's left is the dyin’.”

Or this one…

“A man is what he is from moment to moment. What he's been doesn't count, and what he's going to be ain't worth a hill of beans. Just this moment, that's what we are, no more.”

It may be “lesser” Everett/Cook but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.