14 DECEMBER 1907, Page 25

Arizona Nights. By Stewart Edward White.- (fodder and Stoughton. 6s.)—Here

are some most readable, and 'at times exciting, yarns of the Arizona desert, the e Alkali." They are

chiefly cattlemen's stories ; at least the dialect is based on that of the ranching country, and of course considerably on the mining vocabulary. There is not too much of it, so that the average reader will be well able to understand. He must not expect a continued series of crimes and frontier escapades; the sidelights on eharacter are often most entertaining. Timothy Clare, the greenhorn, is an excellent study, while "The Sailor with One Hand" is the tale of a tragedy and a treasure-hunt that grips the mind with a feeling of mysterious foreboding. Mr. White some- times fails to make his point effective ; the climax comes a little tamely—that is to say, his work is uneven—but in the main he handles his themes well, and brings us face to face with the cattleman. Considering the splendid material a writer who knows his Arizona must have at his command, it would be astonishing if he did not produce some telling and dramatic scenes.