CURRENT LITERAT URB. -r- The Lost Gold of the Montezumas.
By William 0. Stoddard, (Hodder and Stoughton.)—The teller of this story seems to have seen the gold of the Montezumas, for he describes the ingots, big and little, and the nuggets of which the treasure consisted. But neither Mexicans nor Texans had the luck to cast eyes upon it, and it still remains in its hiding-place among the hills. The story is of the days when Texas was added to the States, and there is no lack of exciting adventure, connected with the well-known names of Crockett, Houston, and others.—The Gold Ship, by F. M. Holmes (Sampson Low, Marston, and Co.), is another story in which the auri sacra fames is the ruling motive. This time the scene is on ship-board. The Anne Boleyn' takes on board a quantity of gold, and some ruffians hatch a plot to lay hold of it. How it all ended the reader may find out for himself, not without some entertainment. It is a satisfaction that there is a region of the world of fiction where poetical justice still lingers.—The Island of Gold, By Gordon Stables, M.D., RN. (Nelson and Sons.)—Dr. Gordon Stables is a long time before he even gets his company started in their search for the " Island of Gold." But, as our readers can scarcely fail to be aware, he never fails to entertain, however long he may linger. We are not sure, indeed, whether we do not like the pretty picture in the early chapter of the boy with his little sister and his tame crane as much as the more exciting part of the story when the treasure, with its customary surroundings of savages and bloodshed, is actually discovered. Whichever way our readers' tastes may lie the story is sure to please.—Hunting for Gold. By Hume Nisbet. (F. Ir. White and Co.)—Here we get out of the region of fiction into fact, though the fact has an imaginative setting. " Adventures in Klondyke" is the sub-title of the book, and the author tells us that he has founded his descriptions of the dangers and hardships which have to be undergone by those who seek riches in Klon- dyke upon letters sent to him by a friend who has actually gone through them. "The horrors of that overland journey cannot possibly be pictured with words : they must be experienced before they; could be understood Try to recall your sensations on the coldest day or night you have ever known ; try to intensify the most bitter ice-blast that has ever pierced your marrow by a thousandfold; even then you will not be able to realise spring in the Chilkoot Canyon, far less midwinter oa the Klondyke." And frightful as is the going, the place when you reach it is by no means a haven where one would be. We take it that for various reasons no one who begins Hunting for Gold will be content to lay it down till he has finished it.—The Vanished Yacht, by E. Harcourt Burrage (Nelson and Sons), brings us back to the realms of fiction again. A rascally sailing- master, who has been too much trusted by the owner of the • Daphne,' steals it bodily, and goes in search of a treasure of which he knows. The pursuit gives occasion for plenty of adven- tures. In one chapter we have a graphic description of how a well-managed sailing vessel beats an ill-managed gunboat ; in another there is a vivid picture of a tidal wave and the destruc- tion which it works. Between one thing and another, formid- able aspects of Nature and man in his fiercest moods, there is no lack of danger and of action.
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