The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 305

Book Reviews

the beginning of Anthony Adverse, but one will recall that the
genesis of Anthony was not as legal as a coach.
At Natchez the heroine appears. She is Cecily Marsten, who
had left Tennessee with her brother and father, determined to
reform the drinking habits of the latter. She is almost pretty
with a few freckles on her nose, frank and friendly and likeable
with many frontier virtues.
From Natchez the plot becomes a fabric of many strands.
The main strand follows the Magee-Gutierrez Expedition from
its assembly at Natchitoches to the capture of Nacogdoches,
the long siege of Goliad, and the tragic finale at San Antonio.
Into this expedition the author expertly fits Jonathan Kirk.
He is a young Virginian, restless in his search of land and
adventure - red-haired, high-spirited, capable in the qualities
of leadership. The ways of the frontier and the ways of women
were foreign to him. His frontier problems were soon solved,
and he becomes the leader of the scouts. His women problems
are more complicated, but he learns slowly but surely. He
rides into Texas on the high tide of adventure as a beardless
youth, full of hope for liberty. He rides out as a mature man,
more hopeful than ever that liberty will eventually come.
The strand of romance winds itself into the entire story.
Teresa, the Golden One, amorous and interesting girl that
she is, has ambitions to occupy a throne in Texas with Salazar
as her king. And yet she secretly saw much of Jonathan and
made much of his inexperience. Jonathan's reactions varied
from pleasure to disgust.
As for Cecily, Jonathan looked on her more as a sister;
however, as he saw her develop under stress and strain, his
interest in her increased.
This book has for its author a man who knows his firearms,
his horses, his history, his men, and there is much evidence
that he knows his women. This is a book of action. There is
much of fighting and much of dying. But in this regard the
author has not done so well as my friend J. E. Grinstead, of
Kerrville, who writes blood and thunder books with such en-
ticing titles as When Texans Ride, Texas Ranger Justice, and,
best of all, Flaming Guns.
So far as I know no man, outside of grand opera, has achieved
so high a mortality rate as he. When his last book appeared,
I asked him how his characters came out. He replied, "Doctor,
I killed every one of them except the hero and the heroine,

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