The Men of the Mountain. By S. R. Crockett. (R.T.S.
Ga.)- We have been accustomed to think that for Mr. Crockett to be at his best he must have his foot on his native Galloway heath. But this tale makes us doubtful, for we have never seen anything better from his pen. It is a story of the Franco-Prussian War, and the scene is laid on the Swiss border; French franes-tireurs and their Swiss sympathisers contribute most of the action. The first scene brings before us the two heroes, as we may call them : David Allix, a pastor, Swiss by birth but a naturalised Frenchman, and Military Chaplain Hermann Falk. David has been condemned to die ; the Germans have caught him in the company of a man carrying a rifle but not in uniform. As he stands with his back to the wall and the firing-party is making ready, he lifts up his voice and sings, mere maiorum, his death-psalm. The words atch the ear of the Chaplain as he lies in bed. He hurries to the spot and saves David's life,—they had been fellow-students in old time hi a Scottish Divinity College. All this is most effectively described, and it is an excellent sample of what is to come.
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