“Lady Ritchie knew what was interesting and what was not; she lived intensely in her memories, and she can take her readers to live in them with her.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p19 Ja 8 ’20 1100w
RITCHIE, ROBERT WELLES. Trails to Two Moons. il *$1.75 (3½c) Little
20–17007
The story is of the Wyoming cattle country at the time when the struggle for existence was on between the cattle rangers and the sheep-raising homesteaders. Little by little the latter were encroaching upon the former’s grazing lands. Three figures stand out in the tale, Zang Whistler, the cattle-thieving outlaw, Original Bill Blunt, inspector for the Stockman’s alliance, and Hilma Ring, a sheepherder’s daughter, a dazzling but heartless beauty. A lonely life of hardship and struggle had cut her off from all femininity and hardened her heart. It is the taming of this shrew that tempts both Zang and Original. Amid killings and rough horse-play, during which Hilma has her fill of terror, loneliness and despair, nursing her hatred for Original, the latter’s character and power finally subdue and awaken the woman in her. Even Zang, whose wild career is but an offshoot of his inherent integrity, receives Hilma’s recognition of his loyalty and devotion.
“The story possesses a sort of crude strength besides exciting incidents; its characters are fairly well individualized; its descriptions are vivid, and its fights colorful. However, we cannot say that the conversion of the heroine’s hate for the hero to love for him is convincing. The strings that pull the character hither and thither at this point of the story are altogether too evident.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p21 O 23 ’20 110w
“The story is ultra-romantic and the characters not essentially of flesh and blood—mere types and caricatures. But the setting in which the story occurs is painted so very vividly that it lends the air of reality to ‘Trails to Two Moons’ which the characters themselves and their vigorous actions lack.”
+ − N Y Times p25 D 26 ’20 320w