Introduction

This book should have been a trilogy. Certainly it was intended as a tome, at least. But sometimes the vast dimensions of a people or a region prove so unsurmountable that a writer, in bafflement or defiance or defeat, decides to attack with a slingshot instead of a more proportionate and formidable weapon.

Chapter 1

There was too much of everything. But not for Vaughan Melendy. Himself of heroic stature, he fitted well into the gorgeous and spectacular setting that was the city of Seattle. Towering and snow-capped like the mountains that ringed the city, he seemed a part of it – as indeed he was. Born into this gargantuan northwest region of towering forests, limitless waters, vast mountains, fertile valleys, he himself blended into the lavish picture and was one with it. He loved it, he understood it. Breathing deep of its pine and salt air, a heady draught, he digested it like the benevolent giant he was.
Eastern visitors, accustomed to nature in cozier mood, were vaguely frightened by this colossal pageant. Certainly a recital of the region’s natural charms, no matter how restrained, always gave the effect of a Chamber of Commerce pamphlet gone mad.