The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-08
NEW BOOKS.
the wonderful Island OF Vague.


The reader will find a tale Of the imagina.
ton in iona Gales story of Romance
island CThe Bobbs-Merrill Company. In.
~dianapolis). st. George. the yachting ~.
porter Calready famous. Of coursel. awoka
one morning to find himself rich. The
highest possibilities Of life suddenly con.
fronted him, and he grasped them with a
certain hand. He bought a snow whIta
yacht. He had a man" He invites
ChillinRworth. the city editor. to diuuer
Il is pleasant enough so think upon hi,
giittering circumstances. "Everythnv
ready. Rollo2 Is the claret warmed, Did
the glasses come for the liqueur2 Then
take the cigars to the den. You'll hava
to get some cigarettes. Keep up the fire.
Light the candles in ten minutes. ! say
how jolly the table looks"
Wen bet that even Chillingworth felt
privileged and fiattered and that the
dinner was good 20 his midst. The story
develops a good deal Of a plot before the
snow white yacht sails away for the island
of vague in the seventh chapter. Prime
Tabuit, who is c~uriously declared 20 have
had lodgings in -McDouGle street only a
few blocks from Washington square" was
himself a curious personality. His snow
white hair browning a dark and youthful
face was curious. So was his neckcloth,
closely wound IN folds of soft white and
fastened by a rectangular green jewel Of
notable size and brilliance." So was the
tale he told Of the island Of Vague, a place
which has been overlooked by geographers,
10Th ancient and modern, but which has
been ruled by hereditary monarchs since
1850 B. c., when il was settled" For CEN
turtles the Prince declared there had been IN
the keeping Of the High Council of Vague
a casket containing what was known az
the Hereditary Treasure. Only lately this
treasure had disappeared-vanished -as
utterly as IL the Fifth Dimension had re-
ceived it," At this point il seemed 10 Us
that st. George might well have asked
himself what a snow white yacht was for.
IL did not surprise us when, in the seventh
chapter, we found the yacht making It's
way through tropic seas.
1t is proper and possible for us TO afford
only the slightest suggestions Of what
Vague was like. At page l44 it says st.
George wa silent. 1t was as il he were
on the threshold OF Far Away, within the
Porch Of the Morning Of some day divine.
The place was so ~poignantly like the garden
OF u PICTURE tndL OuS HdS scch DIS a Sllll
and remembered as a pace past all speech
beautiful, and yet failed ever TO realize
in after years, or TO make any one remem-
Der, or save fieetingly in dreams to see once
more, since the picture book is never, never
CHANGED upon again. Again at page ISL
it speaks Of high, pyramidal shrines" and
great places Of quiet and straight line"
and says: 1T was as il some strange COM
pound had changed the character Of the
dark itself, transmitting it to a subtle es-
senoe more exquisite than light. inhabiting
it with wonders. And high above their
heads, where this translucence seemed 10
mix with the PIPER air and TO fuse with
moonbeams, sprang almost joyously the
pale domes and cornices Of the place, send
ing out floating streamers and pennons
OF colors nameless and unknown" That
is the merest glimpse Of the wonders that
the island of VAGUE had to show. They
had had automobiles on the island since the
time Of Columbus.
We shall not tell about Olivia, the young
lady who sailed with st. George from New
York, or about the Hereditary Treasure, or
about anybody or anything else. Let the
reader buy the book and learn for himself
what followed when sin { e late our Of the
next afternoon Rollo. with a sigh, uncoiled
himself from the shadow OF the altar 10 the
god Melkarth in the Hex Temple and stiflv
rose" The book has happenin gs as well
as scenery, and there is much TO amuse
and entertain.