In the Dictator's Grip. By John Samson. (Blackie and Son.
3s. 6d.)—South America is the scene of Mr. Samson's story, which is concerned with events of a century ago, and Dr. French]. istheDictator,though we do not get into the Dictator's "grip" till the last chapters are reached. Stephen Herrick runs away from home, the very tight hand of a step-father and an inherited love of the sea proving too much even for his affection for his mother. (By the by, the October sun, even in London, rises a great deal earlier than half-past seven.) He ships to Monte,Video, and there sees the fiasco of the conquest and surrender of Buenos Ayres associated with the name of Whitelock. Life on an estancia, adventures in Paraguay and the Gran Chaco, and a brief period of anxiety when in the neighbourhood of Francis, only lead to a happy ending, the recovery of a lost father, and marriage to the daughter of a Spanish gentleman. The story moves but slowly, yet there is incidt nt and some freshness in the South American scenes and the Indian adventures. If Mr. Samson could have condensed this story to two-thirds of its bulk, it would have been a really interesting narrative.
Previous page
