The Adventures of Leonard Vane, By E. J. Bowen. (Hutchinson.)
—This is rather longer than most books intended 'for boys who have a natural turn for adventure ; but, although long, it does not contain a single dry or even uneventful page. The story begins with the marooning of the Cornish captain of ' The Duke of Gloucester,' on the desolate western coast of Africa, by his own mutinous crew. From poor Captain Pengillan the story then shifts to his daughter Gwen and the two brothers, Leonard and Hugh Vane. As a girl, she is, in a curious way that has to be accounted for by an adventure, associated with them as boys. Then both fall in love with her. She prefers Leonard. There- upon Hugh plots against his brother, with a view to securing Gwen ; he even goes so far as to invent a story cf his death in an expedition to the Congo. Leonard, as a matter of fact, is not dead, although he has had all sorts of hairbreadth escapes from the African tribes and their chiefs, among whom, for a time, his lot is cast. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that he finds Captain Pengillan, and that, in spite of attempted abduction by Hugh, all ends well both with him and with Gwen. Beside Leonard Vane, there are several manly English characters in this book—in particular, Calverley and Asquith—and the adventures in Africa have the supreme merit of novelty. There is also a subsidiary as a principal love-story in this book ; altogether, it is one of the best books of adventure for boys that have been pub- lished for many years.
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