The Washington times., 1901-06-30
Recent Fiction.

The Way of the Gods is a new book
by a new author, with the somewhat un-
realistic name OF AquiIa Kempster. 1t
is little volume of East Indian tales,
with an entirely new flavor to them. 1t
IS slightly dangerous TO venture into a
field which has seemed to be so thor
oughly claimed by Kipling. but when one
has new and fascinating tales to tell. as
Mr.. Kempster has, the risk ceases to
exist. There is no question that the au-
thor knows how to tell story. and that
he knows his ground as thoroughly as
Strickland of the police department.
These stories are such as Strickland might
have told had ne been a raconteur.
The five sketches which are grouped to-
gether under the above title all deal with
a strange, complex and very live charac-
ter called Prince Ager Mira, sort OF
compound Haroun-al-Rashid and Jack
Hamlin. Nearly all the others deal with
the character Of the native East Indian,
Hindoo, Mohammedan, or aborigine; two
or three are Of Anglo-Indian life. The
author tells the stories for the most part
IN the character of a medical student, and
all are told in the first person.
The style is crude in spots, but appar-
emily with the crudeness of an unaccus-
toned pen, not that of temPerament-and
there Is a difference between the two
The queer thing about the book is its ap-
parent absolute accuracy in dealing with
native life and character, and the bold
ness with which the occult side of East
Indian life is handled. The writer has
evidently come TO the conclusion that
there are more things in India than any
body's philosophy can explain, and that
they can only be taken for granted. As
for the local color, 1t vIbrates with all
the color, glitter, richness. and sinister
oddity of Indian bazaar and temple. Here
is page or two from a story dealing with
a gruesome adventure in a temple:
"They recognized at once that the
temple had well earned It's reputation
So long had the gospel of mystery and
fear held sway that the very air SEEM
ed heavy with its subtle vibrations.
The whole place was utterly forbid
ding and they found themselves fol-
lowing old Haddee's soft footsteps al
most stealthily. The hideous carvings,
just touched b.. the feeble, yellow
lamplight. seemed TO start out from the
shadows, as IL to arrest them; and
when at last Haddee left and the echo
of his going had died away a chill
sense of discomfort seized them and
they gazed in questioning uneasiness
at each other; then bat swirled heav-
lily past, and they started like two
children frightened in the dark.
LAS they gazed up at one of the mas
sive idols dark. fiat head was lifted,
Kissing for a moment, then sank to
rest again. and once serpent un-
coiled lazily from round duted pillar
and slowly slipped away to some more
shadowy resting place. That they
were drowsy, torpid boas did not much
lessen the horror of the place to the
men, and they were glad to cut short
their visit and get out into the sun
shine once more.
'At their next visit they set to work
TO make as thorough an inspection of
the place as possible; but, although
the shrine was better lighted in their
honor. still the pillars and carvings
and heavy time-stained pedestais, to-
gether with all the weird, fantastic
decorations, made lurking places for a
thousand shadows that never were
disturbed. The bats and flying foxes
whirred among the fretted roof col
umns, and the torpid serpents eyed
their approach with beady stare as
they hung. coiled, from their various
vantage points"
And here is a story of Indian magic
that dims the House OF Suddho:"
"Narda made her arrangements,
strange as they were. quickly and