Carl Dow

Black Grass Carl Dow

In 1866, about 200 kilometres south of what is now Winnipeg, Manitoba, Susannah Ross was running for her life, and running out of time.

Close behind were two brutal bounty hunters, and a retired U. S. Cavalry officer, Captain Patrick O'Hearne, who was more interested in Canadian land than the Canadian woman. No damsel in distress, Susannah had led the lead bounty hunter all the way from Halifax, but she had run as far as she could.

Alone and unarmed, Susannah faced 50 years as a bond-slave, and worse.

At the same time, Rupert's Land, home to both Native Americans and their cousins, the Métis, was being greedily eyed from the south, seen as empty and defenceless land, ready for the taking.

The men chasing Susannah Ross were also chasing a fortune, with no one to stand in their way.

Or so they believed.

Given half a chance, Susannah Ross would prove that she was not the defenceless damsel they believed; and so it was that Rupert's Land was not the empty wasteland that the captain coveted for the United States of America.

One man stood in the way of bounty hunters and conqueror alike -- Gabriel Dumont!