The Wilderness Trail

In the unforgiving expanse of the Canadian Northwest, Robert MacTavish is thrust into the role of head commissioner of the Hudson Bay Company, usurping the long‑standing trade agent Angus Fitzpatrick. Spurned and embittered, Fitzpatrick weaponizes his authority, levying a false accusation against Donald MacTavish—Robert's son and the secret lover of Fitzpatrick's own daughter, Jeanne—claiming he commands the marauding Free Traders who have pilfered a staggering cache of furs. Determined to vindicate his name, Donald embarks on a perilous quest to dismantle the outlaw band. The true mastermind, a half‑blood named Sergius, orchestrates the abduction of Jeanne by persuading his mother, Old Mary, an Indigenous woman, to lure her to his remote cabin under the pretense of marriage, a ruse designed to shield Sergius from Fitzpatrick's vengeance. Misled into believing Donald has kidnapped Jeanne, Fitzpatrick threatens execution. After a brutal capture, Donald escapes, rescues Jeanne, discovers an injured Angus, quells a mutinous workforce, and leads a ferocious assault on the Free Traders. In the climactic melee, Sergius attempts to flee, only to be stopped by his mother; she is shot by her own son, and Donald ends the saga with a knife duel that severs Sergius's head, restoring order to the fur‑laden frontier.