SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 60, 4 December 1920, Page 13

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Black! Bartl.emey's Treasure." :• r' ! B.laek .Itortlemey-'s Treasuro;" ,by Jeffrey Faruoll--(Georf{'e 'Eoberteon. -and .Co.), • is:'a .•ful^bloodeclj.S'igorously-writilen; romance, tho .principal 3cencs in. which-aro "laid first in 1 England of the,later Stunrtiaii period, and afterwards on tliat Spanish Main which.has been bo much favoured by novelists who write stories, of I-adventure. The hero; Martin- Conisby, LfavdiWendovor, has been'robbed of his -.estates and treacherously shipped away over sea. finally becoming n Spanish galley iflave. .Escaping from his captivity, he returna to his native Kent, bent on vengeance upon his hereditary enemy, Sir Richard* Brandon, who had/ compassed his ruin. Ho finds, however, that the man' against whom, during his long •hours of--agony at the oar, chained to an 'equally unforXunato Frenchman, he had sworn a bloody vengeance, is reported to have been-lost at 6ca in. the west In"dies' some two' years before. • In his search for the; treacherous Brandon the homeless' wanderer comes . across his enemy'B daughter, - and, unconscious . of her identity, -rescues' her from some ruf* fianly roysterers, she. in her. turn befriending him. Also; ho meets a seafaring ■ man, on© Adam -Penef&ther, .who, •now the captain of the fine little brig •the "Faithful Friend," has also been in his day a; ((alley slave, and has been associated with certain "gentlemen adventurers," as the buccaneers of the iiime called themselves, coming into possession 'of ft parchment which contains information aeto : the whereabouts of the buried treasure of the famous Black Bartlemey, who may be roughly described as .a sort of first cousin to that redoubtable pirate, Captain Flint, in (Stevenson's "Treasuro Island-." With Penefather, who is in need of an ally who shall be desperate and daring onough to carry out his-plans. Martin 6wears "blood broilherhood," and is smuggled on board the good ship "Faithful Friend;" which lias been chartered by Sir Itichard 1 Brandon's rela tives. who believe that he-lias been cap tured by the Spaniards. On board tho ship is the' Lady Joan Brandon, with whom the penniless adventurer is now desperatelv in-lovo, nlbeW.he abates not one jot'of his determination to wreak a terrible vengeance on her treacherous father: Yet another important character in tho story is a horrible ruffian, one Eoger Tressady, who. knowing flint Penefather possesses the key to the hidden treasure, - lias concealed ■ himself on the vewel,' several members of the 'crew being his secret associates. Tressady is as ('borough-going, tliough not so amusing a scoundrel as. was our old friend, "Long John" Silver.. For "Long John s famous crutch- llr. Farnoll has substituted a -..steel hook. . which takee tho placo of Tressady's lost

leftf hand, and' with which the owner .docs some terribly bloody work, Trcssady and his'ruffianly comrades, who stand na much in nwe of the mnster crimuial as did "Long Johns companions in villainy, have a piratlical chanty, which recalls tho famous catch which Silver was wont lo troll forth so lustily:

Flfteon men on a dead man's eliost, Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum; Drink hnu tho devil had done tor tlio rest, Yo-lio-lio, and a bottle of rum. Mr. Farnoll's piratical ditty is less iovial in ' tone, and celebrates tho horrible dfieds pi "Tho .Man With lite Hook," as Tressady is called: One by tlio knife did part wi' life, And three the bullet took O, But three times three died jilaguuy A' wriggling on a hook 0; A hook both strong and bright and long, They died by sash o' hook 0. To set forth-'at length-tlio exciting record of Martin's and Lady Joans adventures on tho desolate island where tnej are marooned, to tell how the famous 'treasure is sought for and found, and what: becomes of it, how Adam lenefatiicr fought unto death, as lie thought, with-the ruffianly Tressady, and ot part played by the "Man With the Hook in the bloody deeds done oil ilhe -t i 1 ful Friend,"' to explain how a spirit oi self-sacrifico causes the hero to iemain on tho . ihUvticl when lus lady love leaves, is impossible here. Of an these-.,strange and, pceiting happenings you shall read in Mr.. Farnoll s story, which .provides as rich a feast of delectable entertainment for those who love a real good "adventure yarn" as we have had this- many, a long day. It is a story full- of strango oaths and stranger deeds, and is not free.fconi. a' suspicion of what Stevenson called _ But the vigour, the compelling entrain of 'lie story is undeniable. It tho earlier chapters -Mr. Farnoll gives his readers some capital .rustic scenes. In one passago where Martin, having got freo oi the hateful stocks, is befriended' by a genial peddler. Mr. Farnoll puts into the mouth of this latter a eulogy of the vagabond's -life on road and moorland whir 1 ' t-;v : v>;-.]v mnd"lled nil p. f.u<")U* passage in "Lavengro." . It is . indeed A rich if. in . places,. . rather too highly-spiced menu which the. author, presents, and it ! is- good _to know that some day Inter on, judging by the close of the Inst,chapter, tho. story is to havo a sequel, Meanwhile, readers young and old who delight in a really good ''treasure story", should repair forthwith' -to the nearest bookshop and nt a copy, of the book. It should have a great vogue during the .Christmas book : buying season.

two Good "Americans." Mr. Georgo Barr M'Cutcheon's latest story, "Anderson Crow, Detective" (New York: 'Dodd, Mend, and. Co., per Whitcombe and' Tombs), is excellent light comedy, here and there, perhaps, bordering on the''broadly farcical, but always productive of unrestrained mirth. Anderson Crow, whom ye have met before in Mr. ; M'Cutcheon's stories, is a goodnatured, stupid, honest fellow, .with a groat belief "in his own cleverness, and lucky enough to make other people believe in it. Ini this now story we find liim'installed as the Pooh Bah of Tinkletown. Besides being marshal, or chief (and only) policeman of the place, he is chief of the lii-e dopartment, street commissioner, truant officer,- commander of tlio local G.A.R. (Grand Army Reserve), representative of three- detective agencies, and turnkey at tho local lockup. Tinkletow'n lauglis'at and ivitli the redoubtable Anderson, it handicaps him in his boundless energies. and ambitions, sometimes it. opposes and dot'eats him, but its first' citizen lie. remains to tho end. Anderson Crow is a character of whom Artomus Ward or Mark* Twain might well have been proud, a strange 'but most amusing compact of stupidity, eccfntricit.v, and hiird-bitten shrewdness. One of tho most amusing stories in tho book relates to the sudden development of "yioidusness" ; '-iii a. hitherto meek and niild' and sadly. Vienp'-ekrd-bn-bnnd. and is quite in tho approved W. W. Jacobs stylo of fun. Another deals -with t.!:e curious results which follow-the application of the'prohibition law to Tinkletown. 'As'a means to.Hi' beguilement. of a few spare hours, on-train or steamer durnig' the-icoming- "Anderson Orow,-Doteetivfr," •-is---what our American'friends- would call a -."sure, thing." ! ' ' • ' "The ChlnesS" Label,"- by .T. Frank Davis (Boston;' Little, Brown, and Co., per Whitcombe and Tombs); -is n story of the' United- States Secret Service. Tho scoiie is laid in the Texan frontier town of San Antonio,-tho liero, a. clover secret service man, being set the task of discovering the wherealiouts of some famous jewels, stolen from the Sultan's sash, and smuggled into tho United States through Mexico. In tho course of Napier's quest for tho diamonds he runs up against some unscrupulous and dangerous folk. Turks, Chinese, and Mexicans, but eventually .wins, through,' achieving a big official success, and gaining also the love of a charming American girl. There it> a gfinerous supply of sensntional inxideni in.the story, and the author's description of: the cosmopolitan- society of the frontier'. town is brightly- written and very entertaining,' '

An Australian Story. Mr. J. H. M. Ablxjtfs novel, "Castlo Va.no" (Angus and -Robertson, per Wlut'coiiibe and Tombs), is a vigorously-writ, ten, hignlx-sensatioual romance ot the old busiirongihg days. A -young Enghsli. soldier, sentenced by a vile-tempered major t<) a. brutal and quite nndesci-ved punishment, assaults the tyrant, and succeeds in .escaping. Befriended by an old Jew, wno is tho chief receiver for a gang of criminals whose operations extend, all over the colony, yoiing Delaue makes his" way. up country, where lie heaps coals of fire upon his old enemy's head by rescuing him from some iuUianly bushrangers, headed by a clever but crime-stained ex-gaolbird, who is nicknamed the " Jew Boy." In danger of arrest for desertion, and fearing tlio vengeanco of the bushrangoi'S, whom he has robbed Of their victim, tho young fellow, with a faithful soldier comrade, make for tho ranges whore they meet with a succession of exciting adventures. A long and thrilling story ends with. tlio capture of *'t!lfo Jew 80/' and hiiil-gang, the discore 17 that the liero is heir to an English peerage, and that his old enemy, now his friend and prospective -father-in-law, is li& cousin. Mi\ AblboW; Sins, ao it appears , by an extract from tho "Sydney Morning Herald" of 181-1, based, to some extent at least, his story upon actual happenings. Ho has written a very exciting and assuredly a ivery (readable story of tho "bad.-'.old days" of the mother colony.