28 OCTOBER 1893, Page 24

The Wabrus - Hunters. By B. M. Ballantyne. (Nisbet and Co.) —This

is a story of the Far North of Western America, the border- land of doubtful ownership between the Dogrib Indians and the Eskimo. (The tale is of a time now passed away.) Cheenbuk, an Eskimo (has an Eskimo ever "black beard and moustache" ?), strikes up a friendship with an Indian, Nazinred by name. Both are men greatly in advance of their time and generation, owing not a little, one can hardly help thinking, to Mr. Ballantyne's idealising powers. After sundry adventures, Cheenbuk is taken prisoner, and delivered from imminent death by the Dogrib maiden, Adolay, which is, being interpreted, " Summer." Prisoner and rescuer fly together, not without sundry qualms of conscience on the swain's part. So chivalrous is he, that he has half a mind to go back and deliver himself up. We shall not anticipate Mr. Ballantyne's plot. It must suffice to say that it is well-constructed, and gives the occasion for some spirited description of places, and not a little lively incident.