4 DECEMBER 1909, Page 9

Ford of H.M.S. Vigilant? By Staff-Surgeon T. T. Jeans. (Blackie

and Son. 5s.)—Mr. Jeans follows up with this volume an earlier book of naval adventure, " Mr. Midshipman Glover, R.N." Richard Ford, son of a Devonshire parson, passes out of the 'Britannia' in a satisfactory way as a Midshipman, and joins the Vigilant,' the ship of which a great crony of his father is in cem- mend. All this preliminary matter is finished with businesslike speed, and by the time we have reached the twenty-fifth page or so we axe, so to speak, in close pursuit of the pirates,—the scene, it must be understood, is in Chinese waters. Then follows a story filled full of adventure, the serious being relieved by an occasional touch of the comic. It is told by various hands,—the Midshipman himself, the Commander of the ' Vigilant,' and a Captain of Marines. The plan has its advantages. Each narrator can use an appropriate style.