Chuka -- Richard Jessup

Richard Jessup wrote westerns under his own name and as Richard Telfair. While I've read a lot of his other books, this is the first of his westerns that I've tried. It's a good one, and it was made into a film with Rod Taylor in the lead role.

The title character is a gunfighter. No one knows his real name. He's just Chuka. He and two friends arrive at Fort Clendennon on their way to Montana. At about the same time a stage arrives with several passengers. You can guess what's going to happen: Indian attack. The fort is filled with misfits overseen by a Major Valois, a 25-year-old West Point grad and a tough sergeant who backs him up.

There's an assorted cast of characters: the grizzled scout, the disgruntled soldier, the beautiful woman, the former prostitute. All familiar, but Jessup does some interesting things with all of them. In fact, the book could have been a hundred pages longer and still not have told all their stories. Some things clearly needed more development, but it doesn't matter in the end.

The people in the fort are clearly over-matched. They don't stand a chance against the united force of several tribes. I won't say how all this turns out, but what happens is told matter-of-factly and it's all the more effective for that. I should read another western by Jessup soon.