The Trail of the Axe by Ridgwell Cullum

Dave ran a lumber mill in western Canada. There are some workers within his organization who he trusts implicitly, some who he doesn’t trust at all, and some who he is unsure about. But Dave is basically a trusting soul. Most of the folks in Malkern liked him, as he had been a major factor in shaping the village and in providing employment for a lot of the folks who lived in the area. Dave was not a pleasant site to look at; ungainly, not very attractive, yet he had a heart that was the antithesis of his lack of physical attractiveness. Dave was a good friend to Betty, who had promised her hand in marriage to Jim Truscott, who was on leave from Malkern searching for gold in the Yukon territory to secure a future for himself and his bride-to-be. Truscott had asked Dave to watch over Betty during his absence, but when he returned from his fortune seeking expedition in the Yukon, Truscott was a changed man. He didn’t seem the same personable Jim Truscott that Betty had promised herself to