New-York tribune., 1920-10-17
The Pilgrimage Begins In Cornwall,
and the. I our Embraces the Notable
Books of the Year

s'aHO recognition pv me critics His
second book, Ny Neighbors (Harcour.
Brace & Howe, is now before u, :,
is not strange tha. a satire vein pm,
through the chain Of sketches IN .h,.
book Il is not TO be wondered a, I'm.
Evans employs a tense, terse Anslo.
Saxon diction plainly nodded BY ~.
brevity and economy Of syllabl.s a.
the Bible.
John Foster winds up his rafting
good adventure story, The Search.,,
Doran), in the hills of Scotland. ".
had begun TO fear that the mint wh.,.
men coin sterling tales Of danger and
excitement had gone out Of buslnem
Foster won our salute and cont.,..o,
that at least one true writer Of b.A-
bling romance is alive and busy at nj.
desk May his little private mint con-
tinue its good work, The Sesreh.,,
IS the result of a cross between "a.
methods of construction Of Comm
Doyle and John Buchan
The scent of the "searchers" IN th,.
tale IS along the trail Of treasure
Of jewels hidden in the Scottish Mills
during the years of Queen Elizabeth
A piece OF paper covered with sixteenth
century writing gives the clew to the
place where the Jewels were buried
and one half of this paper i. in III.
hands of Italian des7eradoes and ,h,
other half in those of good and pluckv
Enghshmen. The chase, the battle "a
get the two bits of paper into the DOS
session of one of the two parties, speeds
over TO southern Europe and up into
Scotland, to end in a wild fight in rocky
glen. All red-blooded men like stories
that glow with the heat Of melodrams.
if shrewdly built and well written. IN
our opinion. this story is the best o.
It's kind Of the year
Bridges Deals in Thrills
Following in the wake Of Foster
comes Victor Bridges, who has gathered
together quite following by his ex-
citing yarns of the last few years. Il
we remember correctly, he was
pioneer in developing the idea Of two
men exchanging places in life, aided by
their resembances in face form and
voice. He enters the lists Of the year
with collection Of short stories bear
ing the title of the opening one Of the
set, The Cruise Of the Scandal Put
nam.
In this story, with the scene at the
take-of on the far northeastern coast
of Scotland near Inverness. he modu-
lates into a new key with the old theme
Of Two solitary mortals. young man
and Young woman, remote on a desc
late island. In this case, each of the
two Is cruising single c-handed IN
sail boat, and their roughing It
ashore and racing on the sea lead to
quite natural and comforting results.
Bridges skips pretty well over England
IN this book-one Of his stories. that
OF an escaped convict who jumps in and
wins football match COR weak team.
IS particularly good and we plant him
down in Scotland TO help balance the
island. All in ali. he has made read
able book from many and neterose-
neous ingredients.
We were told, few days ago. that
W ". Tarn's The Treasure Of the Isle
OF Mist Putnam's9 would serve well
70 close this rambling story Of Eng
hsh noveNsts. We accepted the sug-
eestion in good faith. and have just
read the final sentences Of the book.
1t IS singularly beautiful piece Of
work, with freshness OF the eternal
child dancing through Il like a strain
of elfn music. The Isle Of Skye.
masked in the books title, is the set
ting Of this successful effort 70 spin
a fable as flmy as the wires Of fair
harp, yet informed with meaning
that IS as fundamental as the hills.
that OF The kinship Of youth with the
founts at the heart Of things
And now for truly strange lilt.s
bit of coincidence. Before We had
opened this book. ere We hal any int.
nation Of even shred Of us prose Or
IT'S inierences, We placed quotation
from Hutton at the beginning Of our
excursion ia words over Eng an soil
We spoke Of Quiller-C Couch. hlr brary
and his outlook over the CORNISH sea.
And now. like a refrain. we leav you
with two passages culled from The
Treasure Of The Isle of Mist. enc Civ
ing view o. a winter sea at the Isle
of Skye and the other beng remark
able echo OF the mus.c love Of Eng
land that sings in Hutt ss words The
nrst: The southwest s4.c Vas raging
round the house like 1--we animal,
seizing it and shaking Il. and ~aiiins
IN the chimneys pltifuuy. Ike an IN
hurled ghost; and before the gale the
long, leadcolored rollers we're racing
in from the Atlantic. smashing ,her-
selves on the crags and shooting up
neavenwara iu columns OF spray
thrice the height of the cliffs. while
the noise Of the surf n the Scsrgiil
cave came booming across the water
like the roar of battleship's guns.
The hills were all srrouded IN mist.
and the mis-. was fine salt rain that
rolled IN f~or, .t,o Goa l-tt-,,o ~ y