The Kidnapped Squatter, and other Australian Tales. By Andrew Robertson.
(Longmans.)—These stories are not of the almost painfully familiar Australian type. There is in them incident and adventure, but no murderous bushranging or " Bail up !" to speak of. But there is abundance of strong character, and of that humour which comes out in action rather than in words. In all respects " Jack Reeveley " is the best story in the volume. The hunt of Jack after his uncle is very cleverly, though not at all Haggardly, told; and several of the characters in it, notably Jack's eccentric master, and McWhilly the detective, are admirably sketched. There is no inconsiderable amount of plot-ingenuity in " All for Glittering Gold," and the cleverness displayed by Jack and Fanny in "The Kidnapped Squatter" is so saturated with genuine comedy, that one can hardly help entertaining a sneaking regret that their villainy is detected and punished. Mr. Robertson writes well, though he is rather too fond, like so many young writers of the day, of short, snippety sentences.
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