Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-25

appreciation of the literary critic" That
being the case, all that remains to be
said is that the book Is story OF pioneer
travel and adventure in the Rocky noun
tain region shortly after the civil war. There
are hints Of autobiographfc treatment here
and there. There are some brisk passages
of description and there are some familiar
anecdotes. There is also romantic mar
rative. with dangers and temptations and
rewards plentifully besprinkled through the
text, and the bold, free. unconventional
spirit Of the west pervading all.
THE TIN DIsKERs, the Story of an In
vasion that All but Failed. By Lloyd
Osbourne, author Of THE Motorma-
MACS" &C. Illustrations by F. L. Fifth
ian. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus
Company.
Mr.. Osbourne tells an impossible story
with rather more FEASIBILITY than many
other writers. His narrative of the adven-
lures of a young American girl suddenly
separated from her half-crazy aunt in Lon
don while on a nocturnal search for hid
den treasure and held in captivity by a
wounded hero is in the retrospect little
too much for the credulity, and yet in the
telling 1t goes forward with such smooth
ness and grace that one can forgive the
lack Of likelihood 1t is at all events anus
ing, and who wants probability in a COM
edy?
THE SHOCK OF BATTLE. BY Patrick
Vaux, author of "Thews of England"
New York: G. p Putnams Sons.
Washington: Woodward & Lothrop.
If Mr.. Vaux could have managed his
clever story of an imaginary war between
England and Germany with fewer descrip-
lions of his hero's recovery from uncon-
seriousness his average reader would have
been better pleased. AS it is, much Of
the text is devoted to this occasionally in
teresting process. Young Mr.. Duncansby,
who was carried unwittingly into the thick
of the fight, got knocked about rather I'M
mercfully. first by the sea, next by q
lot of Belgians who jumped into a small
boat after a collision, next by some Ger
man reservists who mutinied on board the
merchantmen that picked him up, next by
the collapse Of a building under the fire
Of German cruisers and finally by mis-
siles and the sea and the coral reefs when
he went down with a torpedo destroyer and
was cast ashore on an uninhabited island.
1t gets on the nerves after awhile. Mr..
Duncansby would have seen more Of this
interesting war if he had been more gently
treated by his creator The war itself ap-
pears to have been-it really has not occur
red yet, being dated about ten or fifteen
years hence. but that does not matter-of
the type short. sharp and decisive" De-
spite her heavier naval armament, Ger
many is knocked out handily by the right
little, tight little island" A land invasion
fails, and the German cruisers are bowled
over in short order. The scenes as directly
described are enacted chiefly In the West
Indian waters, which it would appear are
going to be of immense Importance in the
International calculations as soon as the
Panama canal Is completed.
THE WATERMEAD AFFAIR. BY Robert
Barr, author of The Woman Inter-
venes," &c. Frontispiece by Curtis
q INIT f1od al
Altemus Company.
For an utterly undressing spectacle, let
there be offered the bankrupt British lord
He is too common. But for an absolutely
sparkling novelty let there be devised a
bankrupt English lord who goes to work
as a chauffeur. That Is something like It
matters not that Cupid plays part in this
Transformation. The effect is there Just
the same. and there is no denying the ap-
peal Of young John Trumble officially and
the sympathies Of the warm-hearted reader
as he finds this foolish youth in the hands
of the law and placed upon the meager al
lowance Of one hundred pounds a month
and rendering twenty-five pounds of his
first installment to stranger who signs for
funds upon which to get married. There is
hero for the most fastidious. OF course
the clouds roll by and John Trumble be-
comes again the Earl Of Watermead, but
he returns to his higher environment in
every way fitted to assume the role of the
Countess Of Watermead. Mr.. Barr makes
the most OF his opportunity to tell q
sprightly tale Of today.