SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1722, 12 April 1913, Page 12

SOME RECENT FICTION.

SOME RECENT FICTION.' SOUTH SEA YARNS. Two books of. stories dealing with life in the South Seas are on my table this week. One is Jack' London's "South Sea Tales" (London, Mills, and Boon; per Georgo Kobertson and Co.); the other "The Harvest Moon," by J. M. Forman (Ward, Lock, and Co.; per S. and W. Mackay). Mr. London's yarns remind ino not a little of certain of the lato Louis Becko's stories, but the American writer generally strikes a moro dramatic, more tragic note than' that to be found in tho Australian's work. With London, realism is always first and foremost, and in six of tho eight stories of which his latest book is composed, tho. unrelieved .grim-, ncss of his pictures is almost repulsive. The treachery and brutality of the white trader are exposed:in such atyarn'as that entitled "Tali, Yah, YaW with unrelenting truth, and the Melanesian hero of tho story headed "Mauki," who wreaks such a ghastly vengeance upon his fiendishly cruel white tyrant, is surely one of the most uncanny figures in the literature of the South Seas. Mr. London's description of a hurricane, in the opening story, "Tho . House of Mapuhi," is a splendid piece of writing—hero is the very spirit and essence of the South. Sea hurricane made clear , to the reader. Two or three of tho stories, have tho wilder and lesS-known Solomon. Islands for.their lackground. In one yarn alone does Mr. London attempt a humorous vein, and is here, by the way, less successful than in dealing with ,t ho dramatic and tho _ tragic side of/South Sea life, but there is hot a page in tlie book that <1 should liavo missed. Some of the strongest and best work London has yet done is to bo found in his "South Sea .Talcs?' Mt. Forman's book, "The Harvest Moon," contains a number of 6hort stories all dealing with the strange experiences which befall those who becomo possessed, even temporarily, of a marvellous and mysterious jew'el,',a giant;pihk'.pciarL. Tho successive "owners of the -"Harvest Moon" each succumb to 'its baleful influence, and to secure or retain its possession. commit, the most revolting crimes. Event- . ually 'tho "Moon" is dissolved in acid by a y<j.ung lady,, into whose.custody it falls,; but- before this.' takes; place : a ■ good 6Coro or' moro '-people, aristocratic tourists/.in the South Seas, ship captains and mates, traders,' and oven scientists, meet more or less tragio: ends through having it ih their care or ownership. Tho sceno is for the most part laid in tho South Seas, and Mr. Forman, having spent some timo in Fiji, Samoa, and .other Island groups, is enabled ."to -.throw much .interesting, local, colour info.; the:-, yarn. . . Maurice GreifEenhagen's ..illustrations aro sketchy,' but - effective enough • for .' their, that of enhancing, tho interest', of :tho story for the readers of . the magazine, in .. which Mr. Forman's work appeared inserial form. THE FIFTH TRUMPET. / There'is the same fine dramatic quality, the same vigour of style, and the samo savour of grim realism in Mr. Paul Bertram's new story, "The Fifth Trumpet" (London: John Lowe; per Whitcombo and Tombs),- which characterised this author's excellent novel, "Tho Shadow of Power," which was published last year. Mr. Bertram • now gives his readers a series of powerfully-drawn pictures of life in Constance, in. tho early part of tho fifteenth century, what time the oity was the seat of the Great- Council of tho Western Church. In those pre-Eenaissance and pre-Kcformation days there existed, it is notorious, widespread corruption both in Church find State, and the author could 110 doubt quote historical, records to prove that his pictures of ecclesiastical greed, tyranny,' and even graver evils aro not over-drawn. Tho interest of the story centres round one Magnus Stein, once a, Free Companion, but, when 'the story has developed, town clerk of Constance. Two women, one, Fastrada, amiable But weak, • tho other, Iseult of Montorgueil, an English peeress in her own right, but nevertheless a courtesan; and a high dignitary of tho Church, Cardinal Brancacio—quite a Borgian figuro this latter—make up, with Stein, a quartet of singularly interesting chief characters. Despito the lady Iseult's past, silo part of real heroism and self-sacrifice, and is, indeed, to one reader's mind at least, far too good for the somewhat priggish Stein. But it is tho Cardinal who really dominates tho story, and whenever he appears there is no resisting the fascination of his presence. Subtle, cruelly, wantonly vicious, treating both men and women iu» mero puppets of his inordinate ambitious or gross desires, lie is saved from becoming downright repulsive by the ingenuity of tho novelist, who invests him with an air. of romance, and., mystery which softens down the uglier side* of his character. In his prefacc, Mr Bertram disavows any desire or. intention of painting the Church' of tho period dealt with as being without relief in tho abuse of the power of the Keys, but it is difficult to believe in such almost universal rottenness as is depicted in his story. A powerful but rather gloomy novel. A NEW AMERICAN. "Molly M'Donald," or "A Tale of tho Old Frontier" (Chicago. , A. C. M'G'lurg and Co.; per George Robertson and Co.) is a vigor&usly-written, highly sensational and really excellent story of tho Indian wars of iSGS, the wars in which Custer, Sheridan, and other American officers played very prominent parts. The heroine of Sir. Bandall Parish's novel, Molly M'Donald, is a high-spirited girl, tho daughter of an officer in charge of a military post in Kansas. Molly leaves her school in the East to join her father, and/becomes involved in a series of most exciting experiences and adventures, in which Indians and rascally whites figure as her enemies, but from which shb is rescued by a bravo young soldier who, having held a colonel's commission in tho Confederate Aimy. had been dismissed, as tho result of another man's treachery and crime, from tho services and had rejoined the army for service in the then Far West. Needless to say villainy meets its deserts, and the young soldier's reputation is fully rehabilitated, much, no doubt, to tho delight of the faithful Miss M'Donald. The-fighting against the Indians is described in a scries of vividly picturesque scene!?, and as a novel of incident. Mr. Parish's latest story should take high rank, being quito equal to the sumo author's earlier. and successful ef- | I'ovl, "My Lady of Uotibf." The illustration', in colour, by Ernest L. Ulumeiil schein. are vigorously drawn and in ex-

cellent keeping with tlio spirit of fullflavoured Tomance which pervades His story. "THE WHITE KNIGHTS." ' Til view of Iho recent war in Tripoli thoro is ft certain timeliness of Merest in Mr. T. G. Wakalin's story, "The White Knights" (London; John Murray; per Whitcombe and Tombs). Denis Grey, a young Oxford man, goes to Egypt as tho guest of his friend, Howell, whose father lmd married an Arab girl and become u member of a military order of desert Bedonins, El-Fersan-el Bied (tlio Wliito Knights) formed with the object of protecting tlio tribes from the Senussi Arabs, with whom they had a blood foud. Grey is initiated into tho brotherhood, and becomes greatly attached to Howell's sister. A desperate tribal fight takes plac« with tha Senussi in which the White Knights, whoso, military organisation is described with perhaps an excess of detail, are victorious, their triumph being due, in no small degree, to their possession' of Jlnxims and other modern weapons. Grey performs prodigies of valour, and though seriously wounded, lives to win his lovely Halima, and presumably to settle down lis a Bedouin chief. The principal scenes of the story are laid in the Libyan Desert between Egypt and Tripoli, and the author has evidently got up his local colour very carefully and makes very effective use thereof. SEVEN SCOTS STORIES. Jane Findlater's new book, "Seven Scots Stories" (London, George Bell and Sons; per Whitcombe and Tombs), contains a series of well-drawn pictures, some humorous, somo pathetic, of rural Scottish life, life in tne Scottish lowlands. The subjects of the stories vary not a little, but all are effectively written, notably "Charlie Over the Water," tho story of an old Scots woman, who is induced by an ambitious son to make tho long journey to her nephew's homo in Tonnesseo, and there frets herself nearly to death with regret at having left her old home. In "The Love Bairn" and "The I'nttie Bogle" a note of truo pathos is struck; in "The De'il's Money" there is tragedy—plus a very palpable moral— whilst in other stories in the collcction, notably "Mysie Had a Little Lamb," the author displays a gift of pleasantly-unaf-fected humour, five coloured plate 3 from original water-colour drawings by Henry W. Kerr, R.S.A., add to the interest ol' a book which .should mako strong appeal to readers of Scots birth or extraction. A MASTER OF DECEPTION. Richard Marsh's latest story "A Master of Deception" (Cassell and Co.; per S. and W. Mackay), recounts tho evil deeds of a clever,,but utterly unscrupulous, young man, who. enters, while yet a boy, upon a career of deception and crime. Eventually, after murdering his wealthy undo, to whose, daugher he is engaged, ho is brought to book, and is threatened with exposure. Playing 1 his part as a "master of deception" right up to the last, lie' simulates an attempt at suicide, and succeds in escaping to America. A somewhat unusual feature in the scamp's life is that he finds himself' engaged at one and tho same time to three separate young ladies, in addition to having an intrigue with his landlady's daughter. Mr. Marsh displays his usual ingenuity in working out the disoovery of tho crime, but the reader soon tires of Elmore's sordid rascality. THp FINE AIR OF MORNING. There is an air of unreality about some of the characters in J. S. Fletcher's story, "The Fine Air of Morning" (Georgo Bell and' Sons; per Whitcombe nnd Tombs), but tho heroine, Valency Winsome, is a very original and charming creation. ' Cruelly treated _by her stepfather, a gamekeeper, the girl, who has nover hitherto left her homo on the edge of a wild moorland, runs away, and meets a travelling pedlar, an educated young man, who, so Mr. Fletcher would fain have us believe, has deliberately chosen life in a caravan, and despises the society to which by birth he belongs. Tlio girl's benefactor, however, has a weakness for poaching, and goes to gaol for three months (surely there must have been previous convictions!), and Valency is cast on' tho world. She finds other friends in a conceited, but well-to-do young man and his chum, an .organist, and the story runs easily alone until misfortune once again driving the girl, out on 'to..the world, she meets her old friend "Gentleman Jack" once more, and the pair are married. Mr. Fletcher writeswith great spirit, and his pictures of road-side life—how strong the Borrow influence seems to be nowadays—are bright enough. There, is an underlying spirit of theatricality in many of tho incidents, but the story, as a story, is readable enough in its way.