Evening star., 1937-06-23
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
HEATHER OF THE high HAND. BY
Arthur Stringer. Indianapolis: The
Bobbs-Merrill Co.
BY MARGARET GERMOND.

HEATHER OF THE high HAND. By
Arthur Stringer. Indianapolis: The
BobbsMerrill Co.
A tug Of war between an arbitrary
young man and a resourceful young
woman, staged in the northern wilder
ness. is the theme of Mr.. Stringers new
est tale Of frontier romance and adven-
ture. 1t is thrilling story of the great
outdoors, exhaling the fragrance of the
deep north woods, giving vivid tangibility
to the enchantment OF the Canadian
salmon streams and dramatizing the
human forces which enter into combat
Tor supremacy of possession as against
1nviolable preservation.
Heather McHale is the manager of the
Muskalaga Salmon Club, fishing lodge
on the banks OF the best salmon river
IN Canada. For more than half a CEN
Jury the club has owned the rights to
the river, and since accession to the
position OF manager following the death
OF her father, Heather has been known
as the Queen OF the Muskalaga She is
also the provincial game warden and the
sheriff. She is fearless, resourceful and
uncompromising in the maintenance of
the law.
Owen Steele is forestry engineer, pros
pecting for timber for lumber COM
pany which Is negotiating for permission
to establish base on the Muskalaga for
the cutting OF large tracts Of spruce. His
acquaintance with Heather McHale and
his knowledge of the deep-rooted jeal-
ouSy with which THE Lairds of the
Muskalaga" guard their rights is ac-
qulred when he seeks lodging for sew
eral days at the club. He denies that
ne is interested in either mining or
fishing, but he declines to explain on
what mission he is invading the priv
lleged precincts of the veteran group of
anglers.
Heather correctly concludes that his
arrival is the forerunner of another at
tempt to industrialize the vast timber
land and rivers Of the Canadian north
country. But she has in the past, with
the aid of the political and financial
influence OF the Lairds and her staff of
guides and servants, defeated many such
plans. A lumber base such as Steele
intends to establish will despoil the
magnificent virgin forests and perma-
nently ruin the best salmon river in all
Canada.
Steele soon realizes that Heather is a
formidable foe. Despite this knowledge,
plus the fact that his firm has not vet
acquired privilege or possession of the
land and river rights, he brings In his
Workmen, sets up his equipment and
begins operations. The challenge to
battle. which he refuses at first to accept
as serious is laid down in unmistakable
terms and the contest is In full swing
in few hours
Heather is hard fighter and an ex-
perienced one. Just how hard and how
competent an adversary he is fighting is
not fully borne in on Steele until she flnds
him fishing for salmon without license
and places him under arrest He knows,
OF course, that he loves her, which is not
OF much value in estimating her ability
to enforce the law and place him in Jail.
Obeying an impulse that has been both
ering him for some days, he takes her
in his arms and kisses her. She submits
to the kiss, relaxes in his arms and
gives fine imitation of swooning from
emotion. She sinks to her knees, en-
braces his legs, throws him, knocks him
unconscious with the stock of her gun,
ties him, puts him back in the fishing
launch and heads for Jail. He no longer
doubts the ruthlessness nor undertakes
the resourcefulness of his foe.
The kissing incident is but one of many
high spots OF drama, sometimes comic
and sometimes grave. that infuses a re-
freshing wholesome love story In which
feminine guardian of nature-and of a
group OF patrician salmon fishermen
pits her strength against industrial and
political forces bent upon program Of
destruction in the name of progress.