SYNOPSIS:

Hands of Thunder Synopsis 10 yr. old Ty Harden and his dog Commander rescue 13 yr. old Cherokee refugee, Falling Rock from 3 cavalry soldiers. (1 The Trail of Tears) . Ironically Ty and his family are about to suffer the same fate as Falling Rock and the Cherokee nation. (2 Mormon Extermination Order) The night before the Harden family's departure west, they are set upon by an armed anti-mormon mob. Ty’s father Nathan, is struck in the head trying to protect the family and hovers near death and Ty's beloved dog Commander is shot and killed. Ten yr. old Ty is faced with a terrible dilemma. He can follow his father’s example as a outspoken peacemaker, or he can overcome his fear and learn to fight like Falling Rock and his non-Mormon Uncle Jim. As Ty buries Commander he makes his beloved friend a promise. “I’m gonna learn guns and knives and ropes, traps and fightin’ better’n any man ever learned’em. We ain’t never gonna be picked on, pushed, mobbed or harassed ever again. Not ever! An anyone who tries is gonna wished he'd thought better.” For, three long years Ty and the family wait for Nathan to “get better” so they can go west. During that time Ty works with his Uncle Jim in his freight business and learns everything Jim can teach him about men, weapons and fighting. Jim gets Ty two Lemat revolvers. Each gun has two barrels. One shoots 9, 44caliber slugs and the other is a 16 gauge shot gun. They are black powder guns “...sometimes they fire and sometimes they don’t”. In Jim’s word, Ty learns to “Shoot the shingles off a house fly.” On his death bed Nathan Harden extracts two promises from his son. First. “Take’em to Utah Ty.” After his father’s death, 13 yr. old Ty aims to keep his promise and take his family to Utah. With the help of his best friend Falling Rock, a very special horse, and his Lemat revolvers Ty will have to rescue his mother and sisters from the Sioux, avoid the cavalry, once again take on the gang of mobbers who killed his father, and...shot his dog!.....While keeping his second promise to his father. “Never kill no one Ty..No matter what.” (1)1838-9 The Cherokee Nation was conquered and forced on to a reservation in Oklahoma. The US Cavalry drove the Indians like animals. One in four Cherokee died on “The Trail of Tears.” Falling Rock, with the help of his father and Ty, was able to escape the exodus.) (2) October 27, 1838 Illinois Governor Lilburn W. Boggs ordered “Mormons be driven from the state or exterminated. It was not until June 25, 1976 Illinois Governor Christopher S. Bond rescinded the order.