19 NOVEMBER 1887, Page 46

Aboard the Atalanta,' by Henry Frith (Blackie and Son) is

rather an incident in the life of a school-boy than an ordinary story of adventure. A boy runs away from school—for, it must bo allowed, better reasons than those usually assigned for such a foolish step— and finds himself, in the first place, on board a canal-barge laden with contraband of war ; and, in the second, on board a blockade-runner bound, it is perhaps unnecessary to say, for the shores of America. A family feud between the Astons and the Moretous which comes to a head on this blockade.runner, the ' Atalanta,' gives peculiar piquancy to the sensational experiences of Bob Lockett, the truant. The humour of the story, which is contributed chiefly by Bob's com- rade, Ned Savage, is rather farcical at times. Otherwise, Mr. Frith'e little volume is very heartily to be recommended.