NOVELS.
BAYARD'S COURIER.*
SPEAKING for ourselves, we are always prejudiced in favour of novels on the War of North and South, the interest in which has been renewed and enhanced by such works as Colonel Henderson's work on Stonewall Jackson, and the ex- periences of the South African Campaign. But Mr. Benson is no novice ; the excellence of his previous work excited a pleasurable anticipation of favours to come, which his new venture will, we think, thoroughly satisfy. His method has its limitations. Efficiency rather than elegance is the note of his literary method ; his treatment of the love interest has no special distinction, nor does he deal in elaborate psychological analysis, whether of the race or the individual. It would be unfair, therefore, to compare his work with that of M. Zola or of the MM. Margueritte. But as vigorous novels of inci- dent, based on an intimate knowledge of the campaign and a thorough familiarity with the ground—Mr. Benson, we may note, adopts the excellent practice of illustrating his text with maps—his books occupy an honourable place in the literature of the subject. The alternative title of his new volume is "A Story of Love and Adventure in the Cavalry Cam- paigns," and it is thoroughly justified by the contents. The mechanism of the plot strikes one as a little artificial. By a freak of benevolence on the part of a wealthy stranger, one of two twin-brothers has been removed from his relatives in in- fancy and brought up in entire ignorance of their existence. When they reappear on the scene after an interval of some twenty years, one of them enlists in the Army of the North, the other is with the Southern forces. Mr. Benson judiciously abstains from any pronounced political partisanship, but it is on the side of the Southern hero that the sympathy of the
reader is chiefly enlisted. The campaigns of the Army of the Potomac afford an inexhaustible. mine of material, into which
Mr. Benson has already quarried deeply, but never with happier results than in Bayard's Courier. He has the happy gift of handling his detail in a manner that is at once minutely circumstantial yet never tedious, and excels in the preparation of exciting incidents. Take, for example, the night scene which describes the raid on the Union pickets made by Daniel Morgan and his friend :— " They were in the angle made by the turnpike and railroad, which here are nearly three miles apart and which meet at Alexandria, nine miles east. Dan did not believe that there would be a cavalry picket-post between the turnpike and the railroad. Of course the space would be watched by patrols, but he was not greatly troubled on that account. He had the night for a cloak, and the ground was wooded, and his enterprise would be easier if the Federal pickets had made an advance correspond- ing to the withdrawal of Stuart's men ; so he led along rapidly enough, going straight ahead, and toward Back Lick Run, at its nearest only a mile away. The run was passed ; Dan knew that there was a road crossing his course, half a mile farther on, the road running from Annandale past Back Lick Church, and he felt confident that on this road the Confederate patrols would ride; so he began now to be very cautious in his advance. Armstrong kept close behind, almost locking step, and saying nothing; you know what a comfort it is to have with you a man who can be depended upon in all matters, even that of keeping his mouth shut. At length Armstrong brought up with a jerk against his leader, who had stopped suddenly ; peering over Morgan's shoulder Charley could see a dim streak of light ahead, a streak perpendicular to their course, and he judged that here was the boundary,—the road marking the line of the Confederates' most advanced patrols. Dan remained motionless. Almost presently Armstrong's ears caught a sound— the noise perhaps of hoofs drumming upon some distant bridge ; but the bridge must have been very short, for the sound ceased • Bayard!' Cozorier. By B. K. BC113011. London: Macmillan and Co. [68.] abruptly. Yet Morgan still stood fixed, and Armstrong feared to breathe; he tried to hear Dan's breathing and could not. Arm- strong's hands were resting on his leader's shoulders ; he felt Morgan slowly yielding, sinking down to a kneeling posture, and he also knelt. Soon muffled hoof-beats came from the right, and the sounds increased; half a minute went by, and then Armstrong could see black objects moving before him—how many he could not tell—and could hear the clank of metal, but no voices. The dim light, which for an instant had been blocked, was now restored, and all was silent again, save that .from up the road came an indistinct cadence like the long roll beaten on a single drum far away. Morgan turned his head, and whispered, ' All right ; come on ;' and they rose and walked across the Back Lick road into the debatable ground."
Of the leaders, General Stuart is most in evidence, but there are some vivid sidelights on Stonewall Jackson, notably the encounter with the hero on his return after an exhausting scouting adventure :— "In the Virginia latitude dawn in August comes early. General Jackson had just risen from his simple bivouac when he saw before him a horse covered with foam, and panting hard with great deep throbs. The rider saluted and tried to speak, but his voice failed him. Everywhere around him the camp-fires were being abandoned, the men falling into ranks, the march beginning. The general hastily stepped up to the mounted man and said : What have you to report, sir? Speak out !' Again Morgan tried to speak, but his voice died into an undistingmsh- able whisper; then, by great effort, he dismounted, and, putting his lips close to Jackson's face, he gasped, Road clear to Hay- market !'—' Good! But did you learn nothing of what is beyond Haymarket ? ' asked the Insatiable."
Given a striking resemblance between the twin-brothers, and their constant employment as scouts, despatch-riders, and spies by generals immediately opposed to each other, and it may be guessed that, with the liberal use of the long arm of
coincidence, Mr. Benson has no difficulty in devising situa- tions fraught with consequences by turns puzzling, diverting, and disconcerting. To begin with, the brothers are unaware of each other's existence. Then it is gradually borne in upon each of them that he has a double. The plot thickens when the identity of name becomes known. Finally, the confusion reaches a tremendous climax when the lady-love of the Con- federate, separated from him on her wedding-day before the service had been completed, is actually married to the Federal who has been brought to her father's house wounded and is taken for the other Dromio ! For details as to how the Northerner came to be a party to this blunder and how it was subsequently set right, as well as for many other thrilling incidents, we must refer our readers to the pages of Mr. Benson's excellent novel.
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