15 NOVEMBER 1902, Page 8

in the 10th Hussars, goes through the Afghan Campaign of

1878, and distinguishes himself in various ways. Mr. Johnston, who follows history closely in the campaign, describes the disaster at the ford, the cholera march, and the fight near Futtehabad. We think this is a good plan, young boys realising how closely interwoven are fiction and vivid fact. Another good moral is also pointed by associating hardship and barrack routine with a hero of Charlie Fortescue's type, who enlists with a serious object, and fulfils the very highest conception of a soldier's duty. Mr. Johnston has plenty of descriptive power and enthusiasm, which atone for certain conventional and vapid turns and phrases, and the book is a distinctly healthy and bracing one to put into a boy's hands.