Sergeant Dick of the Royal Mounted Police : $b A thrilling story of the Canadian woods

by John G. (John Gabriel) Rowe

"Sergeant Dick of the Royal Mounted Police : A thrilling story of the Canadian…." by John G. Rowe is an adventure novel written in the early 20th century. Set along the Canadian Rockies near the U.S. border, it follows Sergeant John Dick of the Mounties as he tangles with the masked White Hood rustlers and a rising threat from Paquita Island’s Reservation. Aiding him are Muriel Arnold and her family, who inhabit “Water Castle,” a fortified lake house with a sailing scow known as the Ark. The focus is on fast-paced chases, sieges, and frontier ingenuity. The opening of the story finds Sergeant Dick battling a gale in Crooked Gulch when he stumbles upon a stagecoach robbery by hooded outlaws; wounded in the skirmish, he’s rescued by Muriel Arnold and her cousin Jenny and brought to their unique stronghold on Lake Paquita. After a brisk tour of the cleverly fortified “Water Castle,” news arrives that the Arnolds’ men are fleeing in canoes from armed Indigenous pursuers, and a running firefight—amplified by the lake’s uncanny echo—follows. As reinforcements of canoes appear, the family and Dick prepare the house for siege; Dick’s attempt to parley with the chief, Howling Wolf, is answered with treachery, and a night assault begins. The attackers try a silent climb onto the verandah, narrowly miss felling the defenders with thrown weapons, and are driven off by Dick’s shooting. When Howling Wolf attempts to cut the Ark free and use it as cover, Muriel’s blazing tar-barrel illuminates the scene, and Dick and the Arnolds shift the fight aboard the Ark, where the opening portion closes with them repelling boarders from within the shuttered cabin.