The San Francisco call., 1905-02-19

DeglunlnS Oh IIe eLOTy the Odudid SSdiS
and crackles into the readers vision
with force at some times positively
awe-inspiring. The sparkle Of the least
arid bit of crystal. the tinge of the
smallest rose petal in the oasis are not
too small to escape the eye Of the au-
thor. Every changing aspect of the
great sea of sand is recorded with
words that in themselves add tones to
the picture.
Though it is difficult to choose for
quotation from Hichens' book, there is
one passage which gives the full COM
pass of the desert spirit-the spirit or
supreme passion:
''She looked and listened till she saw
a grander procession troop by, gar
landed with mystery and triumph: War
without poppies, leading the stars and
moon and all the vigorous dreams that
must come true: Love of woman that
cannot be set aside, but will govern the
world from Eden to the abyss into
which the nations fall to the out
stretched hands of God; Death as Life's
leader, with staff from which sprang
blossoms red as the western sky; Saw
age Fecundity, that crushes all barren
things into the silent dust; and then the
Desert.
THAT came in a pale cloud of sand,
with pale crowd of worshipers-those
who had received gifts from the Des-
ert's hands and sought more; murder
ers who had gained sanctuary with
barbaric jewels in their blood-stained
hands; once tortured men and women
who had cast away terrible recollections
in the wastes among the dunes and in
the treeless, purple distances, and who
had been granted the sweet oases of
forgetfulness to dwell in; ardent beings
who had striven vainly to rest content
with the world of hills and valleys, of
sea-swept verges and murmuring riv-
ers. and who had been driven by the Ia
boring soul on and on toward the fiat
plains where roll forever the golden
wheels of the chariot of the SUM-
(Frederick A. Stokes Company, New
York; price 81 SOD
Mysterious Mr.. Sabin," by e. Phil
lips Oppenheim, is one of the best
stories of pure adventure that has ap-
peared for a year Mr.. Oppenheim
seems a born story teller. Swiftly he
publishes one absorbing tale of mystery
after the other. all differing in plot, but
all written with a keen eye to the dra-
matte and literally humming with ac-
ton. This last story quite excels any
thing the young English author has
done.
In stories such as Oppenheim writes
the success or failure OF the thing de-
pends upon one point alone-that
breathless suspense must be maintained
from cover to cover. In no place must
there be a sag In the action nor a weak
place In the plot, else the reader will
find time to reason concerning the un-
reasonableness of the whole tale. Nor
must there be at any time the least
hint as to the denouement. for then the
whole action crumbles and dissipates
into thin air. like an Aladdin's castle.
Romance allows no introspection;
touch of the realities Of things, and it
vanishes.
Nothing short OF a threatened war
between two world powers serves OPP
penheim for a pivot upon which to
hinge this last story. And the dogs of
war are held in the hand of one man
as unscrupulous villain yet as fas-
cinating parsonage as one would meet
between book covers. That man is the
mysterious Mr.. Sabin. He enters the
story in immaculate evening dress, es-
corting a ravishing beauty, who imme-
diately sets by the ears several of Lon
don's unemployed young aristocrats.
Before three chapters have passed un-
der our eyes this same mysterious
Sabin lodges an assassin's knife by
matter Of inches. talks in the closet of
a German ambassador and comports
himself generally as one mysterious in
deed. All the while-and here Open
helm shows his art as a story-teIler-
both the man and his fair charge offer
absolutely no clew to Identification.
move under a heavy cloud of secrecy.
which remains impenetrable even to
the young men, who diligently seek to
break through.
Suddenly the freak of madman be-
gins to turn the thread of affairs. A
retired British admiral, once an
authority upon the matter of Britain's
naval arm and the strength of her de-
fenses, coops himself up in his study
with armed guards at every portal and
busies himself with a stupendous re-
port upon the weakness of England
against possible foes. Thither grayi-