The Challenge of the North

'The Challenge of the North' is a Western-themed novel written by James Hendryx. It revolves around a man named, Oskar Hedin, who the author described as «loved fur, and the romance of fur». From his earliest recollection, Oskar had loved it as he had curled up and listened to the stories of his father, a great upstanding Viking of a sailor man, who year after year had forced his little vessel into the far North where he traded with the natives, and who had lost his life in the ice floes of the frozen sea while sailing with Nordenskjold. Furs were to Hedin an obsession; they spoke a language he knew. He hated the grosser furs, as he loved the finer. He despised the trade tricks and spurious trade names by which the flimsiest of furs are foisted upon the gullible purchasers of «seal,» «sable,» «black fox,» «ermine,» and «beaver.» He prided himself that no misnamed fur had ever passed over his counter, and in this he was backed up by his employer. The cheaper furs were there, but they sold under their true names and upon their merits.