THE IMPOSSIBLE MAJOR ROGERS

Though a jaunty tone is indeed the only one to take with this colonial Ranger who was not especially virtuous or lovable but who was a helluva woodsman, Gauch's determination to be frothy gets her off to a silly start. (""Robert Rogers was impossible even back in the 1700's""--it was harder then?--and ""No one except [his family] took much notice of him the year he was born'--unless he's a prince, why would they?) True, establishing a sympathetic, easy-to-read character is a problem with this action-happy Raider who seems to have had an enemy behind every desk as well as every bush. But as the leader of the crack irregulars who scouted and raided French and Abenake camps, Rogers appears, as Gauch says repeatedly--ten feet tall. Anyone who leads a starving band 120 miles on foot to meet a supply force that doesn't show, then without axe or saw burns and toppies trees to make two different rafts (the first overturns on the rapids, spilling him and his three companions) for another four-day trip for help, just about lives up to his billing as the man who could do the impossible. Gauch accomplishes no such dashing feats, but the true adventure gives this possibilities.