Book Review: The Trail of Danger by William MacLeod Raine

It's been awhile since I've read a good book. Maybe a few months? My grandmother gave me an old 1934 edition of a western she picked up at her local library book sale. I read it today. The whole thing in one day, minus maybe one chapter. It was very fun.

Summary

Dennis Gifford is a young man who made his way to California during the gold rush, stick to claim with two friends and was shanghai. The story opens as he escapes from the ship he was being held prisoner on. In a desperate attempt to hide, he ducks into a private garden where he meets Rosita who mistakes him for her admirer she was about to meet clandestinely after dark. As they talk her admirer appears and shows his true colors by boasting about being a renowned bandit and threatening to kill Dennis and force Rosita to marry him.

Rosita's family, unaware of her admirer or the events that transpired in the garden, invite Dennis in for the night and promise protection by way of their influence and status. Ramon, her father, takes a liking to Dennis and offers him a job on his ranch. On his way out, he crosses paths with the bandit's lieutenant, Felipe who mistakes him in the foggy dark for part of a gold shipment but, with bigger fish to fry, leaves Dennis alone with a warning to stay away. Dennis and Ramon's sons successfully stop the robbery of the gold. The bandit Juan threatens Ramon's family and Dennis decides to head to San Francisco for safety and find out who the loan shark is that holds papers on Ramon's ranch.

Once in San Francisco, Dennis gets on the bad side of an assassin almost immediately but also making allies. As crimes worsen within the city, the 1851 Vigilance Committee is formed and Dennis serves as their first case after shooting and injuring the sailor who shanghaied him. Things heat up in San Francisco and the Vigilance Committee decides it is safer for Dennis to operate independently on a covert mission, that coincidentally takes him back to Ramon’s neighborhood. With an assassin on his tail and Juan's bandits wanting him dead, Dennis must walk a fine line to stay alive, protect the family who has done so much for him, and prove himself a worthy suitor for Rosita's hand.

Thoughts

First off, this story was very fun. The writing had many little snips of humor in how sentences were phrased. "What conversation they had was in their native tongue. It missed friendliness by a good deal."

As was common an older stories, the narration leaned toward omniscience with frequent excursions into the thoughts of many characters, as well as comments for the reader about things that will happen after the story is over. One prime example was a minor character, an army officer and recent graduate from West Point, wishing for the same luck as Dennis so he could be a brigadier general by the time he was 40; the narrator continues to say this character does in fact become a brigadier general at age 35 because of the Civil War a decade away on the horizon.

One of the things that made the story so refreshing to read was the honest and earnest character of Dennis. He's young, scrappy, determined, but has seen many things in life already that he doesn't let jade him. He cares more about the safety of Ramon's family then he does of his own life. He's willing to put himself in danger to protect strangers in San Francisco. He has a sense of justice and duty that is so rare in modern stories. And yet, he is still gentle and fun-loving, and does not hold grudges against people who have threatened him. He had an opportunity to kill the sailor who shanghaied him but instead, he shot him in both legs and then made sure a doctor was summoned. When he does kill a man in an unexpected gunfight, in a dark enclosed room, he feels regret that it was his shot that ended a man's life, despite the man being a known murderer. Dennis sees the good in people but is still wary and suspicious without being offensive about it. When Juan and his bandits take over Ramon's ranch, Dennis senses a potential ally in Juan's lieutenant, Felipe, based on their encounter before the attack on the gold shipment.

The setting is rich and vivid. Dennis is an American, Ramon and his family are native Californians, some of the bandits are Mexican. Not only are physical differences discussed but broad characteristics and morals are examined. Dennis recognizes that although influential and prominent among the native Californians, Ramon does not have the "street smarts" to deal with greedy and treacherous Americans out to swindle his property away from him. Dennis is patient and non-judgmental as he helps Ramon understand his financial predicament. He admits that the way the Americans have been taking up land is wrong, but begs Ramon to recognize not every white man is evil. Dennis calls in every favor he has to help Ramon keep his ranch and family safe from the loan shark and Juan's bandits, leading to a showdown at the property.

Rating

It was an excellent, light read that I’m sure I will reread in the future.