- ULTIMATUM. By Victor Maelure. (Harrap. 7s. 6d.) This is an
impossible tale of adventures in the. air. Mr. -Maclure never for a moment succeeds-in making the impossible -appear likely, but he does succeed during the first half of his narrative in making the reader hold his breath. First New York and then the great capitals of Europe are raided by air pirates. Banks are robbed, securities burned and lumps of radium of untold value are left at the various hospitals. -The use of a new and harmless anaesthetical gas, whose effects wear off in an hour or two, effectually disarms the cities attacked; When at last the raiders are traced to their lair somewhere in the wilds of South America, and are found to be high-minded gentlemen desirous of converting the world to pacifism, the interest of the story dwindles. When we learn_ that the chief pirate has invented an explosive which wilt blow the world to pieces, and' is prepared- to use it unless every civilized country swears to foreswear war, we become 'bored. The impetus supplied by the very real power of the earlier chapters of the story will, however, probably carry the reader to its commonplace end:
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