The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-15
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
The Colossus, n Story Of which Cecil
Rhodes Is the Hero.

In '"The Colossus Morley Roberts has
attempted to draw the European concep-
ton OF Cecil Rhodes as he appeared prev
ious to the outbreak in South Africa. Be-
fore the empire builder" or ''uncrowned
King Of Rhodesia,'' as the hero of the
story is sometimes called, became virtual
prisoner in Kimberley he was engaged in
promoting the Cape-to-Cairo Transconti-
mental Railway. 1t is the scheming and
wirepulling connected with this great en-
terprise that Mr.. Roberts exploits. Rhodes,
IL the story, is called Eustace Loder. He
is in Cairo, working for CONCESSION from
the Khedive of Egypt. Difficulties arise.
and Loder spends much of his time in a
semi-trance, plotting and dreaming. While
in this state, two secretaries are constant
ly on guard and no one is permitted to dis
turb the great man., The author thus de-
scribes one of these meditative moods:
The great fetch, the god on awful
Wneeis, the keeper of the African sibylline
book, lay back in a big cane chair, and
locked out across the Nile. But he beheld
nothing that was visible from the hotel
terrace; he stared across roses and the
gray-blue river and the desert to greater
deserts, and sweeping farther still, beyond
the fiat uplands Of Uganda and Nyassa-
land, his mind came through the country Of
the bdrOtSe ana nunS poised above the
valley of the Zambesi. He beheld Mosi-oa-
Tunge, and heard its roar; the five fingers
OF spray, rising beavenward as the river
plunged into its carved abyss, were his
pillars or smoke. He considered the making
of ways. The pathfinder is the pioneer of
empire. He pondered over railways and
saw the metals CLEAN till they ran north
and south out of sight, and were but one
iron finger of direction. And now they
ended near where Gordon fell, and where
he was avenged. What a trackless gap
yawned between them and the watershed
where locomotives hooted once more!
When his thoughts touched BuluwayO he
felt as one who has struggled through an
uncharted wilderness when he hears the
sound of an axe. the scream of a saw, or
the long drawn wall of steamer on nav
igable waters.
g 'Hoot, boot, toot! 1 am the civilizer!
join loose ends! So yelled a steamer on
the lakes
''Eustace Loder's opened eyes closed
again; he saw the puppets dance as the
strings were pulled; he heard the drum
beaten. When would the drum and fife
concert of intrigue and interest cease and
let the show of work begin?'
Thus it goes on. Loder dreams and
works. plots and brides. turns honest men
out Of Office when they stand in his way
and puts tools in their place. Success is
his god, and anything short of the devil
is his means. The writer's picture of the
promoter is not a pleasing one. Neither
IL the heroine in the story woman to be
admired. Her name is Gertrude Brough-
ton. She is in love with Loder, and shows
1t so plainly that Loder scorns her and
will not permit her to enter his office while
he is alone. Gertrude, however, is not a
womanly woman and, being bent on marry
ing the great man, she determines to show
him he cannot get along without her.
encourage, is the stumbling block i'm the
way OF concession. He is unpurchasable,
and is an immovable obstruction on the
track of the Cape-to-Cairo line. Loder
and his aids can formulate no plan to &C
complish his downfall, and have about
made up their minds ii will be necessary to
have an English protectorate declared for
Egypt, when Gertrude comes to their re-
lief. She hires a house and garden in
Cairo without consulting Loder, or her
guardian. becomes acquainted with Zoh-
rabs chief enemy and enters into league
with him to bring Zohrab into disgrace.
The honest Egyptian is decoyed to Ger
trude's house after she has set rumors
afioat affecting his integrity. While he is
In the house package is handed him. 1t
contains money and manufactured evil
dence. While he has the package in his
hands, the woman's confederates seize him
and the bogus evidence. Zohrab, too late,
realizes he has been trapped and leaves the
place with disgrace hanging over him.
Stories soon become current that Zohrab
has committed an offense the Khedive will
not condone. Gertrude has the proof. Lo-
der is SO informed and sends a messenger
to the woman. She, bent on bringing the
great man to his knees, rebuffs the mes
senger. Loder must come to her in person.
Other messengers, all friends of both the
woman and the man, meet like rebuffs.
Finally, Loder sinks his pride and receives
the proof that will cause Zohrab's dis
grace If used against him. The woman
triumphs in a way, and Loder gets his con-
cession. The story ends with the great
man still wrapped up in his schemes for
getful that a woman has risked her name
for his sake. If Cecil Rhodes is really the
cold and selfish character portrayed in
Eustace Loder. no wonder the Beers have
set price his head. The book is pub
lished by Harper & Brothers, New York.