Comes the Hunter ((A Geo W. Proctor Western Classic Book 3)

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Clay Thorton’s world was shattered when Coyote Man, a Kiowa brave adopted by the Apache, attacked his ranch and killed his family. Turning his back on civilization, Clay struck out in solitary pursuit of the merciless slayer. The once kindhearted rancher became a hardened hunter, existing only for revenge, his sole goal to track down and kill the fearsome Coyote Man.
He has followed the trail of the elusive prey for more than a year, from Texas through the New Mexico territory and into Mexico. Along this bitter path, Clay has learned the ways of the Indian traders from a comanchero named Joquin and acquired the name Hunts-The-Horse as his search for the brave riding a mare became widely known among the scattered tribes.
His thirst for revenge unslaked, Clay continues on his all-consuming mission until the loss of his horses in a sudden blizzard leads to a nearly fatal fever. Nursed back to health by a courageous young frontier widow, Clay feels his resolve to root out the brave now known as Rides-A-Mare weaken as his numbed heart awakens in the presence of Anna Grant and her two small children.
But his chase has won Clay an enemy who’s determined to end the hunt once and for all. The fate of another family hangs in the balance as Clay Thorton and Coyote Man prepare for a battle to the death.

A native Texan born in 1946 and the oldest of five children, George Proctor spent his preschool years traveling the thoroughbred horse racing circuit across the United States with his parents . His family bought a horse training and breeding farm near the East Texas town of Gilmer in the early 1950s. He attended public school in Gilmer, Texas, where he was weaned on TV, comics, paperbacks, and Homer.
“I guess it was in the third grade that I first picked up the Illiad and Odyssey. I must have read them twice every year for five years after that,” George said in an early newspaper interview done in 1978.
The seeds were planted early for becoming a published writer and artist. George saw countless films and read anything he could find growing up and became hooked on the lore of the Old West’s action and adventure and history. His Uncle Jack took George along on the rodeo circuit during many seasons when George absorbed more history and lore of the West.
Besides the usual farm duties and teen-age employment, Proctor worked on the racetrack with his father through the summers. At age fifteen, he earned an assistant trainer license while working at Detroit Race Course in Detroit, Michigan. He held either an assistant’s or stable foreman license until age twenty-two when he graduated from Texas Technological College majoring in journalism and political science with a minor in government.
After college, George worked briefly at KLBK-TV station, a CBS affiliate out of Lubbock, Texas. He served as floor man, soundman, lighting technician, cameraman, commercial talent, advertising copywriter. George began to mentally re-visit “story” ideas that he had in mind since his early years. He loved to read/see a good story and began to think he could write stories based on ideas he’d had starting from his earliest school years.
The writing and art “plant” continued to grow as George spent five years as a newspaper reporter for the Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, and started to submit short works and ideas to publishers. He worked two+ years on the newspaper’s general assignment desk, and three+ years as the Dallas County Courthouse reporter.
Then he began a career as a full-time freelance writer, editor, artist in 1974.