In this fast-paced, darkly comic tale of the Old West, originally published in 1977, Terrence Kilpatrick has taken a sharp, unsettling look at America one hundred years ago - a country still in the making, but only too familiar. Clay Benton, a trapper and trader, is cornered in a deadly Indian ambush and spared by his attackers only to be forced to undertake a most improbable mission. He must guide four Indian warriors - chosen from the most powerful Plains tribes - to Washington, DC , where they will attempt to locate the secret of the white man's power from President Ulysses S. Grant. The four braves - Manuel Choke Breath, Noisy Walking, Little Rabbit, and Gray Owl - prepare themselves for a long, hard battle. Benton prepares himself for an impossible job of babysitting. What happens to them all is something else again. Part slapstick comedy, part inevitable tragedy, and part awesome revelation, ""Swimming Man Burning"" is an uninhibited, off-beat and heartbreaking novel full of unforgettable characters, humour, and rich, ironic action.