21 FEBRUARY 1903, Page 24

The-Sword of Asiraet. By John Hayman, Major-General, lat e .Hon. E.I.C.S.

Edited by R E. Forrest. (Methuen and Co. 6i.) —There is little. literary merit about The Sword of Airaet, the value of the book depending entirely on the bona-fides of "John Hayman," who tells the story. If this so-called chronicle is real, it possesses a touch of the interest which causes listeners to hang on the words of veterans, and listen to the account-of their adventures in the terrible days of the Mutiny. These adventnies, of course, are, related in a list with no particular cohesion. So are the adventures of John Hayman ; there is very little thread to bind the story together, and the whole book is rather confused and long-winded. As a novel, it is bad. As an account of one man's doings in the Mutiny, it is readable.