The White Ghost: An Outdoor Adventure Story

By D. C. Murphy and Lou Vozikes

The White Ghost is a story of friendship and adventure. Hunting in the wilderness and Indian Superstitions. But it's really about much, much more: It's all about one man's destiny, and another man's promise to a little boy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496919144

D. C. Murphy

D. C. "Rooster" Murphy is a retired lawman. He spent forty years protecting and serving communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rooster has been shot at, cut with a knife, beat up, and spat upon more times than he would have liked. But that just gave him something to write about. Rooster writes novels, screenplays, and music. He acts, sings, and makes movies. He loves Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard. In his world, suits and ties are out and cowboy boots and blue jeans are in. Rooster lives in Petaluma, California, with his wife, Jennifer, a classical pianist.

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© 2014 D.C. Murphy and Lou Vozikes. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   06/10/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1926-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1914-4 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Disclaimer

Acknowledgements

A Word About The Tinneh

Chapter One The Kill

Chapter Two Survival

Chapter Three The Promise

Chapter Four The Return

Chapter Five The White Ghost

Chapter Six Bear Claw Valley

About The Author

DISCLAIMER

The White Ghost is nothing more than a fable. So don’t ask me what really happened up there in Alaska on that fateful hunting trip many moons ago. Some things are best kept quiet. But I will say this: Like all good fables go, when legend becomes fact, print the legend—because nobody cares about what really happened anyway.

—D.C. Murphy

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

This book is a work of fiction, and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. Persons, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination.

He dreamed of someday …

becoming a real mountain man.

—D.C. Murphy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lou Vozikes is a friend of mine. We share the love of hunting, fishing, and spending time in the wilderness. The White Ghost was a joint effort between us. I started writing this story in the back room of his grocery store many years ago, when I was walking a beat down around 9th Street and Mission in San Francisco. Then one day while working on the manuscript, I had to respond to a call from dispatch. I did not close and save my document—a big mistake! A few hours later, when I returned to the old computer on Lou’s desk, I discovered a few changes and a couple pages added to my literary work of genius.

So began this story of friendship and adventure ... of hunting in the wilderness … of Indian superstition … of one man’s destiny … and another man’s promise to a little boy.

Lou Vozikes really is a good man. He always makes the right decisions.

Lou and I would like to thank the best damn copyeditor in town, Mary Rudy, for her services. She is reliable, fast, and never misses a single typo! And she is a great writer in her own right. She has taught me much for very little.

D.C. Murphy

SFPD Retired

A WORD ABOUT THE TINNEH

The Indians of interior Alaska are of Athapascan stock and are known as Tinneh. In aboriginal times, they lived by hunting and fishing, and their villages were located on the major rivers, such as the mighty Yukon. They lived in crude houses built from the jack pine trees and thatched with bark and brush. They used bark canoes for travel on the rivers and dog teams and sleds for overland travel in winter. They killed caribou, moose, hares, and ptarmigan for food and clothing and caught fish in the rivers with spears, nets, and fish traps. Fish were dried to feed both humans and dogs. Many of the Indians still live by hunting and fishing and depend upon trapping beaver and shooting muskrats for their meager cash income.

The Tinneh culture includes many taboos and superstitions. The various clans go by the names of local animals such as the bear, raven, eagle, beaver, and frog. According to Indian legend, these animals have human attributes and are frequently endowed with supernatural powers.

CHAPTER ONE

The Kill

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Gunshots echoed off canyon walls and gun smoke filled the air. Two men and a boy stood knee deep in the snow watching a bull moose charge across a bald spot on the mountainside three hundred yards away. Missed. No, wait. The monster staggered and dropped into a pristine snow bank.

It was late October. D.C. Murphy and his hunting partner, Lou Vozikes, along with Lou’s eight-year-old son, Nicky, had been tracking the bull moose for several days across the cold Alaska wilderness.

Murphy studied the northern sky. An unexpected storm was closing in, and things