Evening star., 1917-03-11

hurried in from dinner to
get al the story. we stole minutes
here and there from work to
snatch half page from it. and
paid no attention at all to an in
sstent doorbelI that seemed bent on
breaking into the big adventure on
hand. The book is a triumph Of thrill
ing realism of effect wrought out OF
pure invention. In the first place, 1T is
immediate-a part of the absorbing
present in Europe. In the next place
it does not suffer by contrast to the
prodigious events from which it is
drawn. Rather does it rise to them. 1t
moves brilliantly. with danger and
hazard and swift turn. through the
shifting scenes of a real environment
Mr.. Buchan, for the purposes or this
novel assumes that Germany has crys-
talliZed a holy-war movement IN the
east around a mysterious native zealot
of tremendous influence among the
Mussulmans of Turkey-in ASA. hlht
of this in England serves to start 1our
Englishmen for Constantlnople by sep
arate routes to solve the riddle of the
leader of this holywar rising, The rid
die of the mysterious "Greenmantle
one of these, Maj. Hannay, tells the
story of his makeshifts to reach the
Danube on his way to the rendezvous,
and concludes it by the united adven :
lures of the four into Syria Tor the
purpose of fulfilling their quest. fhere
is not an uninterestlnS moment IN the
whole adventure. Brilliantly and com
pellingly it takes one along on each
days hazard in the very thrill OF ac-
tual participation. An 1rresistlple
story whose all-round power Is poufd
to place it among the great stories OF
adventures, among the otnef glorious
yarns" of English literature.
IN THE WILDERNESS: A Novel. BY
Robert Hichens, author of The
Garden of Allah" etc. Frontisplece
by George W. Hood. New YORK:
Frederick A. Stokes Company
In outline Mr. Hichens' new novel
deals with one Of the innumerable as
poets of inequality and incompatibillty
in marriage. Separation and reconcilla-
ton complete the outline. The excel
lence of the book lies in the atmospheres
that, in certain stages of It's develop
ment, pervade and uplift it. Mr.. Hich-
ems is a poet of the inanimate, wide
spaces of the world-of the desert. OF
the illimitable spaces Of the beauty Oh
ancient Greece, and to these ne, soine-
times with great and sometimes with
lesser success, tries to proouce the .u- I
man embodiment In this case it is the
spirit of ancient Greece that is evoked
with power and charm. This is the set
ting of the first part of the~1uman ao
venture to which this book is deVoteo.
And here the story is at its best. Ihe
social psychology of the present, the
human being beset by the complexities
of modern life are not the field or TINS
writer. The book in hand is a point IN
proof Here are two people setuns out
on the great experiment OF matrlmon?'
From the start love is apparent on the
part of the man. On the part OF the
woman it is more or less mat'er OF
assumption. 1t would not, perhaps. oe
so bad If they did not insist on talhlils
about it, There are pages and chapters
of the dullest and most uninspired talk
imaginable on the subject OF their love.
on what 1t means to him, on what II
means to her. No doubt this is com
mon practice among newly wed pairs,
but, luckily with them, it does not get
into print, as 1t does here NO, the
analysis Of the soul under the dom-
nation Of the love and sex instinct, unoer
the domination of the equally suppos-
able hate instinct, Is not the Iorte OF WI.
Hichens. This story is really tiresome
to the average reader, and that IS an
almost unforgivable thing to say or the
author of the Garden OF Allan. once
Mr. HichenS could do this thinS petter,
and did do it better in story of which
one hears little. THE Call of the Blood"
THE ADVENTURES OF THE g-202'
BY Baron Spieeel Won und zu Peck
elsheim. ain-lieutenant, so.n
mander of the U-2o2. new 1ork'
The Century Company.
This little book gives graphic day.
by-day account of the U-2o2 on ono OF
its hunting raids against English ship
ping. Conscious that the barest possible
statement OF facts Is the most ehective
vehicle for thia adventure tho Wr1teS