Book excerpt: The Eastern French Frontier, 1754. The French and Indian War is about to begin. The War Trail is a rich and electrifying account of one early American coping with the new world. Wolfgang Steiner is a young German Redemptioner hired out to the Ohio Company as a hunter. He finds himself stranded in the wilderness and pursued relentlessly by the Iroquois. He crosses the brutal Northwest Frontier into French, then Spanish and Indian-dominated lands of North America. In the midst of his pursuit for freedom, he finds companionship with a young wolf. The plot complicates with the appearance of a mysterious and feared Algonquin Indian woman, Dark Moon, a medicine woman and sorceress. Wolfgang and Dark Moon journey in rough stages, trying to elude the creeping encroachment of other tribes allied with the French. Told with brilliant historical accuracy, this is a harrowing tale of hardship and courage in early America as it was. Those looking for the right blend of drama and realistic detail will find this novel an exciting read.