The sun., 1897-05-15

which, by the force of'color and poetry In It,
made OF this old vaeabond . prince"
Tho boy returns to England and wins fame
and happiness and love, whilo tho old boach-
comber, who has never revealed himself as his
father, IL left to die In tho lonely gulloy among
tho hills.
Standing with one hand resting on tho ridge
pole Of the gunyah, the old man began to think
again OF the two halves Of his nature which his
sons represented-the dead, black half, and the
strong, living, white half.
And Robert is deadi" he muttered. Dead.
with the black streak all through him. And
Will Is white, and strong-he will be famous"
He paused, and dinso, sinking along under
tho Warroo Hills, howled twice in quick success
sion. and was answered by the cackle Of q jack
ass from tree near the Runyah.
The beach-comber smiled az tho melancholy
notes with their mocking echo reached his ears.
Bringing his shaking hand down slowly from
the ridgepolo to tho neck Of q bottle which
stood on tho shelf over his bunk, he said: And
II That's queer, tool am-nothingi'
Thoro 10 n charming and simple love story in.
terwoven with all this sadness and some pleasant
descriptions Of English riverside life, but tho
real strength of tho book lies In the fact that
the author has embodied. in the character Of
the old outcast, much Of the spirit Of weird
sadness and grim, cynical despair that broods in
tho vast shadows Of the great Australian bush.
Amid the over increasing mass Of fiction put
before the public week by week, such volume
as Mr.. II. @. wells's Thirty Strange Stories
Edward Arnold). stands out by reason Of its
humor, freshness, and originality. as thing
to be grateful for. Tho author not only
has something new to tell but knows how
70 tell It, and It Is strange that these stories,
most. II not OIL Of which were published in Lon
don some two or three years ago. should not
have reached America before this. Mr.. Wells
has humor keen and unforccd, great imagina-
tive power, and q substantial basis Of thorough
scientific knowledge and his style Is in general
natural and polished, while his versatility is
shown in the wide range OF these stories. from
tho grim and terrible In Tho Cone" tale of
jealousy and inhuman revenge. to the wildly and
humorousy fantastic in The Plattncr Story"
which records the extraordinary adventures of
| an inofensive gentleman who. by accidental
explosion was blown out Of space and had some
! curious experiences among tho disemboded
spirits or watchers OF the living in the other
| world. In q lighter vein are THE Jilt-
ing OF Jano" THE Sad Story of Dramatic
Critic" and THE Stolen Bacillus." An An
archist calls upon q famous bacterioogist,
steals what he believes to be q tube full Of
| cholera bacilli and sets OF in q cab, with the
| scientist in hot pursuit. Tho latter In turn is
! followed by his wife, who thinks the worthy
| man has suddenly gone mad from overwork
| and brings along the hat and coat that in his
frantic haste he has neglected to put on. Finding
| that he cannot escape, the Anarchist breaks the
tube. swallows the contents. and awaits his fate.
There was something tragic in his pose. The
| sense OF imminent death gave him q certain dig
| nifty. He greeted his pursuer with defiant
laugh. 'viverAnarchie! You are too late. my
friend. I have drunk It. The cholera is abroad "
The bacteriologist from his cab beamed curl
ously at him through his spectacles. You have
| drunk It! An Anarchist see now"
A smile hung in the corner Of his mouth. The
Anarchist waved him a dramatic farewell and
strobe of toward Waterloo Bridge, carefully
jostling his infected body against as many peo-
pie as possible. Then the wife arrives and tho
bacteriologist explains matters.
You see that man came to my house to see
me and he Is an Anarchist. No-dont faint, or I
cannot possibly tell you the rest. And I
wanted to astonisn him, not knowing he was an
Anarchist. and took up q cultivation of that new
species of bacterium was telling you Of that
infest and. think, cause the blue patches upon
various monkeys; and, like q fool. I said 1t was
Asiatic cholera And he ran away with It to
poison tho water Of London. and he Ger.
tainly might have made things look blue
for this civilized city. And now he has swal.
lowed It OF course cannot say what will hap.
and the three puppies-in patches. and the spar
row-bright blue. But the bother 10 shall have
all tho trouble and expense Of preparing some
more"
Mr.. Clinton Ross has produced considerable
amount OF acceptable fiction and, In so doing
has achieved well-tnerited success. but in his
latest effort Zuleka /" tLamson Wolfe & Col he
has reached point at which, II he were wise, he
might pause and resolve to hasten slowly for
L. L. ~.
Of readers eager for the novel Of adven
ture and mono too fastidious about such
details as style or character deineation
It 10 possible for an author to treat even
these good folk somewhat too cavalierly
I'VE don't expect grammar. but yer might tint
yer hats!' cried the audience at q country barn
storming exhibition when the scanty scenory
showed too obvious evidence Of careless setting
and so. while there are readers prepared to accept
the same lay figures time after time-ths beauu
full female in distress. the heroic and high-splrit
cd young man whose sole business In life is the
rescuing Of this damsel. and the unspeakable
villain. with all the attendant paraphernalia oi
muskets. cutlasses, and buried treasure. the in
evftable love at first sight, and the final triumph
of heroism and lovely woman-they may not un
reasonably expect these things to be pieced to
gether, II not with some slight regard to prob
ability. at least without recourse to expedienti
palpably absurd.
Zuleka, the young and lovely daughter of the
Sheik of Issouan. IL besieged in the fortress Of
Rosola, rock-crowned mountain Of northern
Africa. Here IL buried the vast treasure OF the
Sheiks and the mountain fastness 10 completely
surrounded by an army of several thousand
mon. instigated by one Hicks. who is after the
treasure. The hero young American. and hi
friend, young Englshman. determine to 60 Il
the rescue. 30. taking with them some ffty mer
from the Englishman'S yacht, they march u
the mountain. The fortress. which Il
practically impregnable. Is provisioned fol
not moro than ten days. and the Addi
tional hfty men can be of no possible as
sistance to tho besieged except in reducing theil
scanty stock of food. But by all the requirement.
of fiction the hero and tho heroine must meet
and there must be an opportunity for some low
making to the accompaniment Of the banging o
| rnuakefrx and fha nattarinR of hulleta Heuc.