O'er Tartar Deserts. By David Ker. (W. and R. Chambers.)
—This story of "English and Russian in Central Asia" begins quietly enough. A neck is within an ace of being broken, and a thigh would have certainly been ripped open but for the oppor- tune arrival of a Grand Duke in the guise of a forester. But soon, as is usual, the fun becomes fast and furious. The most prominent figure is the brigand Krovolit, a real person, it would seem, for Mr. Ker vouches to the truth of the very gruesome account that he gives of him, a creature with the face of an angel that could become contorted in a moment into that of a fiend. Of course we know that when Krovolit goes down in the sinking ship with a load of double irons on him he will reappear. And so he does, to disappear once more in a very dramatic fashion indeed. The interest of the story is now kept up to a very high pitch, though we have an occasional relief in the less perilous adventures of another party of travellers. Mr. Ker keeps well up to his reputa- tion as a teller of tales by O'er Tartar Deserts.
Previous page
