No Less Than the Journey — E.V. Thompson

Wesley Curnow arrives in the United States in search of an uncle who is working on the mines in Missouri. Taking passage on a boat from New York bound for New Orleans, he meets up with a charismatic U.S. Marshal who is en route to the western territories to bring law to the area. After a gun fight with pirates on the Mississippi River and an encounter with an attractive half-Mexican croupier, Wesley finds his uncle has been forced to move away. After finding himself amidst a serious altercation with German miners, Wesley meets an old Mountainman who teaches him proficiency with a revolver, and then faces a final journey overland through inhospitable country.