Coo - eel By Robert Leighton. (C. Arthur Pearson. 2s. 6d.)— Mr.
Midshipman Kettle, of H.M.S. 'Penguin,' fends a man on a certain island. He calla himself Jacob Lavington, and says that he comes from San Francisco. From the first he is more or less suspected, and more than once he is detected in acts which axe distinctly compromising. The liberal treatment accorded to him is therefore somewhat surprising. It is, in fact, a weak point in the story, which on the whole is an effective combination of incident and character. There are perils by land and sea and perils from savages ; there is the unfailing attraction of treasure; and the narrative is pervaded by a very lively Professor, who is a "man of his hands" to an extent which can seldom be found among Professors.—With this may be mentioned The Gold Seekers, by Robert M. Macdonald (T. Fisher Unwin, 5s.) Tom
Allan invents a machine for extracting gold from the sands of the deserts, offers it to a firm of merchants, is very rudely treated by them, but is helped in secret by the senior partner. We have, therefore, a "treasure story" of a certain kind. The inevitable enemy turns up; all sorts of perils and difficulties have to be encountered. Of course they are surmounted, and the reader, besides being well entertained as he goes on, may learn, if he will, something about African slave-raiders, the Senussi, and so forth.
Previous page
