19 NOVEMBER 1898, Page 25

The Pirate's Gold. By Gordon Stables, M. D., R.N. (Thomas

Nelson and Sons.)—This pleasant little book of adventure, founded on fact as the author assures his readers, takes the form of a diary of a Spaniard who was intimately connected with a well- known pirate at the close of the seventeenth century. Miguel Bassanto hated piracy, but kept on the right side of his conscience by preventing acts of cruelty and by warning towns of intended attacks. The treasure hunt itself has plenty of excitement. We think that such anachronisms as firing a " revolver " and "tea" drinking at 5 o'clock—oh, ye shades of rum-drinking buccaneers —might have been avoided by Dr. Gordon Stables.