The Plunderer. By Roy Norton. (Mills and Boon.
Mr. Norton must study the art of stage management before he can join the ranks of the really first-rate novelists. "Let us go back over the last month or two," says Dick on p. 17, "and think it over." That is a clumsy way of introducing a synopsis of all that happened before we entered the auditorium. Nevertheless, The Plunderer is an admirable story of adventure and excitement, concerning the exploitation of the "Croix d'Or " gold mine in Western Canada. Certain of the scenes, notably that of the riot in the gambling saloon, are worthy of the highest praise ; and we have throughout a pleasant sense that the melodrama is merely incidental to the all-important business of shafts and mills ; that, for the writer, the interest of the story lies, not in attempted murder and dancing halls, but in the problem of the neglected mine, where " the shoes of the huge stamps were worn down to -a thin, uneven rim, battering on broken surfaces. The Valuers rattled on their foundations, and the plates had been scarred as if by a chisel in the hands of a maniac." To speak frankly, what interests us most is Lily, proprietress of the "High Light "; and, since she neither dies nor marries, we have hopes that Mr. Norton will continue her history at a later date.
Previous page
