The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-01-27
THE PRIvATEERs: A NOVEL.
ieiiinE OF Romance and Exciting
Adventure on Sea End Land.
tBY n. b. MARRIOTT WATSON

lHele was time when q novel TO
attain 10 the dignity of artistic Illus
trations and cloth binding with gold
lettering on the back. could ONLY con-
tain certain amount Of daredevil
ment and adventure. There was an In
dehnable something in the way Of re-
serve that marked the line where the
novel for the parlor table left Of and
the paper-backed book for the scuHery
went on. But we have passed that
time, it seems. It used to be that the
amazed critics OF the better class did
not try TO understand this new move
ment in fiction. time when they would
indulge iH a laugh at the expense Of
O. i. r. James and his two horse
men or compare the new adventure
novels with those Of Harrison Aims
worth
Then Robert Louis Stevenson came
along with kidnapped" and The
Wreckers.' and the perfect English Of
them, the qualities Of style and. withaI
the finely diguihed work the man was
doing ia other lines OF writing. seemed
TO lend the new movement "A certain
= l..
noting the large sales of these adven-
ture books. INDUCED loudly In the be-
lief that this popularity was but a tenn
porary phase and would pass away on
top Of such beliefs comes The Priva-
teers" by H. Marriott Watson. who has
done pretty wei in the adventure line
before, but never 10 such lengths as
in this his latest book One OF BIa-
ney's Decent mel0dramas fin those thea
tiers where the newsboy hordes are the
critics Of power is nothing to it,
Here we have a lieutenant OF the
British navy, who catches a pretty girl
just as she is about to stumble of a
cliff for which he is repaid by a glance.
one Of those gIances that gives a skill
full novelist q chance 70 write two
pages Of description. and which sets the
plot galloping. The girl who has lived
perfectly placid and commonplace
life. suddenly finds herself involved in
a mystery. is abducted By an American.
and the young lieutenant is forced 10
form "a partnership with another
American to go in quest of the lady
whom he has seen but twice, but whom.
for novel purposes. DE has learned 90
love
AS the abducting American has
yacht il is. perhaps. q fortunate coin
c-deuce that the hero Of this thriller is
naval officer. 1t enables him to take
charge OF a yawl and so after the
yacht. Thus the scene shifts TO France.
and thereafter 80 shifts back and forth
between the blue sea and the land.
rtr I'm
crews are captured. first the yacht is
taken then the yawl is lost. a Iugger
appears on the scene and does some
fancy sailing. and through IL all the
thread of the narrative is constantly
interrupted by pistol shots These
bloudthirStv characters of Mr. Wat
sons keep up such q noisy fuSilIade
that one can hardly hear oneself read
the book
Why these people meet dcath-al-
ways braycly. of course-iu dozen
different ways They are locked in
prison and send notes to one another
in omslettcs. they sink IN swamps.
hide IN caves by the sea shoot pistols
at each other in "a firw0d are thrown
down matches tied into -four sacks.
left stranded at the foot OF cliffs so
that the incoming tide may wash them
aWaN-t1e DuiletS IRey nave to dodge
would tcrrify an army. But in the end
only the arch villain is killed; the
young lieutenant wins the girl-and
she has come into "a fortune Of which
she, knows nOthing-and everything
ends as happily as may be. As one
closes the book after these exciting
times. the silence OF the men who shoot
no more is really oppressive.
Seriously as an effort at making a
book with any pretensiOns TO be desig-
mated as literature. Mr. H. b. Marriott
Watson's The Privateers" is not
striking success. As q story that will,
in its rush and freedom of movement.
in its stirring adventure and exciting
happenings ind many readers. il must
be reckorcd a success. The iIIustra-
tons, which are numerous and very well
done are by Cyrus Cuneo. New York:
Doubleday. Page & Coz