The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1908-04-19
The Barrier

tAN bNttt~i
novel by Rex Beach author Of The Spoil
ers." Published by Harper Bros, New
York. Price Sl.50.
- the play builder seeking ma
terial for a profitable frontier
drama one need not hesitate to
commend The Barrier" The
essentials Of its plot are simple. the
characters few, the action strong and
straightforward, the color striking, and
for further attraction the scene is rela-
lively new. The motif is familiar
the white man Of birth and breeding
and the half breed girl The barrier
Is the barrier OF blood
Some may hold that Mr.. Beach has
not measured up in this new tale to
the promise or even the performance
OF his success d'estme The Spoilers;
some may conjecture that the later
story is really the earlier at least in
conception. However that may be, the
craftsmanship OF it is still of a sort to
attract attention: il is still an outcrop-
ping patiently rich enough TO set the
literary prospector hunting for the
parent ledge. II takes Mr.. Beach again
10 his favorite field. the placer leads
up under the Arctic circle. The
Spoilers" had its scene laid on the
oesOlation of icebeaten shores, tundra
and muskeg. The story of The Bar
rier" is played out on the middle
reaches Of the Yukon, a careful drama
OF the raw, rough life of the river
bank, a romance Of the great highway
20 the gravel mines Of the Canadian
northwest. Necia, putative daughter
Of the silent WatchfuI trader and his
sQuaw wife, is the leading Iady-slirn,
-rra1 --.1,1
to turn gambler, gold hunter. outlaw
or savage to lover. "Poleon Of the
Great Heart" the sacrificing voy-
ageur, is manifest of the men, but the
young and thoroughbred West Pointer
must have the center of the stage the
plaudits and the good scenes, for is not
he the real lover, loved where he
loves? Then, besides the trader there
are Stark, gambler and saloon keeper
and missionary Of old hate and in
herent evil, and Runnion, his mean
and deadly coworker Of wickedness.
None Of the others counts conse-
ouently.
Up and down the great river passes
the procession OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
hairy, hopeful men. drawn by the yell
low lure from all the ends of the earth,
going up; broken men, crushed men.
weak men. hungry men denied of for
the inevitable camp following Of those
who prey-the gambler, the swindler,
the whisky seller. the purveyor of all
crude frontier means and devices and
agencies whereby hard won gold may
be gained from the toilers by those who
toll not.
There is no dearth Of action in THE
Barrier; anger is quick and so are
trigger fingers; tongues are sharp and
In 49,
hot and easy to spill. The fighting of
II and the loving OF it are the fighting
and the loving OF strong men and
strong women. Necia and BurrelI
camped out alone in the wilderness
under the stars; Stark and Gale alone
IN the cabin with the concentrated and
consumed hatreds OF a lifetime TO be
fought out in a few bloody seconds:
Poleon and Runnion battling at hand
grips on the sand bar with only the
girl for witness; the victim of a Just
wrath wandering in the wilderness, a
madman with HIS hands tied behind
him, naked. swarms Of mosquitoes
sucking his blood and poisoning what
they do not suck And then Poleon
singing through his tears as he pad
dies away from all he loves-singing
lest II be seen that he weeps
In your easy chair. under your cleo
80 HSANf eONA bSiSPAoue at your mana,
you read THE Barrier" You hear the
clang Of trolley gongs and the rumble
Of carriages and the hum of motor
cars over asphalt streets. The police
man PAGES peacefully his uneventful
beat You never owned or fred a re-
volver; you never struck & man in an
ger, you never tasted moosemeat-and
If you did II would be bad for your
dyspepsia. 1t is a long, long way
from your den to the Yukon. Blessed
be the maker OF tales