A GROUP OF SEA BOOKS.
Mr. Percy Westerman can always be relied upon for a first-rate yarn, and such he gives us in Mystery Island, in which three apprentices of a full-rigged ship, wrecked in the Pacific, are the only survivors. They swim to a strange isle, where they have adventures with swordfish, cuttlefish, and sharks ; and, of course, there are fights with the natives and the discovery of buried treasure. Somewhat similar is Mr. Bennett's Mutiny Island, though here we have not a few lonely survivors, but two quarrelling, rival parties of sailors. Tales of remote islands may not vary much in main outline ; but they never lose their fascination if they are told with the right colour and detail, as these two authors know how to tell them. The Laughing Pirate is an impossible, but thrilling, tale of modern piracy, in which seaplanes, wireless and other up-to-date appliances play a conspicuous part. Quieter in tone and very instructive, though with occasional dramatic moments, is Trawler Boy Dick, which gives an intimate picture of life with the Brixham (Devonshire) fishing fleet.
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