17 SEPTEMBER 1898, Page 23

the actual identity of the highwayman being unsuspected to the

last. The detective work is of an inferior order, not such as we associate with Fergus Hume's pen. On the other hand, the lite rary qualities of the story are superior to some of the author's productions, and the plot, as indeed are all his plots, is excellent. The incident of the midnight chase is thrilling. The old Jew makes a clever villain ; and, on the whole, we may class the story as an exciting and well-contrived fiction, and one sure to furnish any reader with an hour or so's amusement.