Chalfonte Pierneau is the protagonist of this novel, but he is farfrom the most interesting character.

Pierneau is too good, too noble and too predictable to incur any but the most cursory interest in the reader; and, while he manages to handle any emergency, he is not very bright. He only sees the need to alter his way of earning a livelihood when another character advises him; he fails to notice the severity of the leg wound which finally claims his wife until it is too late; and he stubbornly refuses to accept the shortcomings of Black Hawk, in whom he has endowed, in his imagination, superhuman nobility.

The minor characters are quite a different matter. His friend and advisor Hercules Dousman is probably the most commanding character in the book, and he is a historic figure. In this book, Derleth outlines the early career of one of...