10 AUGUST 1895, Page 26

Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies. By B. M. Croker. (Chatto

and Windus.)—The most striking of these stories, all of them

vigorous and picturesque sketches, is that of the slaying of the man-eating tigress. All devices for her destruction have failed, till Sassi, a Marathi widow, accomplishes the deed. How she does this should remain the author's secret. It must suffice to say that the tale is most effectively told. "Proven or not Proven" is a powerful story of revenge. By way of relief, we have something brighter in the narrative, with the title of "Two Little Travellers," of how Chunnee is wronged by the powerful man of his village, but comes happily to his own again. Mr. Croker knows his subject well, and wields a skilful pen in writing about it.