The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-29

college chum II. Rider Haggard he who was able to thrill us so with his She" to be followed by his imitators in He" "1t," We" etc.
 MT. Haggard wrote She" so it is said, in four weeks and named it after num- my rag doll he had played with a child. It was the sensation of the hour and netted Mr Haggard more than S50.000. But it hurt his legal practice so he aban- doned law and took up writing as a life work In writing a novel it is stated that MT. Haggard always spends several months in the country wherein the scene is placed and gathers local color and material
 "The Yellow God" is similar but yet different from She" King Solomon's Mines," Allan Quarterman," "Maiwa's Revenge and so on-the scene in the first-named book shifts from London, right into the heart of darkest Africa.
 Major Alan Vernon" a retired army engineer on account of supposed i'll health, had entered a partnership with two get-rieh-quiek manipulators and schemers in the city of London Sir Rob- ert Aylward and MT. Champers-Haswel This trio began to float, among other things, an irrigation scheme to operate in the desert of Sahara the principal oDJect of course being to sell the stock in the company, the buyers to hold the
 
 not as it should be in the management of this floating corporation, so with hardly any money he resigns from the partner ship. Champers-H -Haswell has a niece whom Vernon loves-she is the heroine of the story-a small grade below the African queen who comes into this book, as they always do in most of MT. flag gards stories.
 Vernon had a golden idol his uncle had brought from Africa some 30 years before. This idol was so made that it was worn as mask over ones face and was said to be Little Bonsa," the godwife of Big Bonsa,' of mysterious, wonderful power in certain portions of Africa.
 "Jeekie," Vernon's African servant, in- duces his master, now that he is down and out, to take this little golden god and with it return to Africa, telling him that for returning this stolen god to it's people the party so doing will be loaded with gold in payment
 To make a long story short, Vernon, having nothing else to do starts on his Journey to the home of Little Bonsa'' to turn this god-wife over to her husband and her Worshippers. Vernon and his servant, ''Jeeke," have a pretty exciting time of it getting to place intended, but Little Bonsa" always comes to the res- cue in some mysterious way.
 After Vernon does reach the end of his journey he finds all the rgold there all right but it is the question of how to get away with it; for the beautiful queen had fallen in love with Vernon she proposed to marry him willy-nilly proceeding to kill her husband in order that she might carry out her plans.
 Vernon was one of those men with principles" whatever that may mean in that specific connection, who couldn't do this or that on account of his ''prin- ciples." CD His foolish actions caused a great deal of trouble, not only to him. self-that wouldn't have hurt-but to peo- pie depending upon him.
 Vernon makes a getaway all right, of course. The book tells how. How at one point Vernon had to swim a raging tor rent. Did he take off his coat and shoes? Certainly not-he was a hero. In he jumped, the raging waters bothered him not at all; he not only passed safely through, but held his pistol out of the water to keep it dry. In reading such descriptions, did you ever stop to think of the necessary strength and need of one or two more hands to swim raging torrents and at the same time hold up guns and pistols out of the water?
 This story, "rhe Yellow God" is re- fressing in that it is Haggardesque diff ferent from what we have been reading for some time past. No one would hardly care to read MT. Haggard regularly, but every few years it is not bad at all
 Taking the scenes of his old stories the knowledge of lost or buried treasure, the conspiracy at home to find these treas ures, then the journey to carry out the contract-there you have the plot of all MT. Haggards stories. But if you wish something that will please ytNA kfll time take you out of yourself, then not read any more of that kind of story for some months, "The Yellow God' is what you want.