The New York herald., 1922-09-03

ON TIPTOE: A ROMANCE OF THE
REDWOODS. BY Stewart Edward
White. New York: George H.
Doran Co.
HHIs new volume. Mr.. White
whimsically assures us, is "a
swashbuckling story of pirate
days. 1t has as leading characters
the Buccaneer and his sinister Sec
ond in Command. the Fair Damsel in
Distress. the Bright Shining Hero
and those great Intelligences by
whose caprice-or by whose ordered
law-our tiny world carries on
among its millions of sister worlds"
In point of fact those pirate days
are the days we live In; the Pirate
Chief is one Grimstead. hard listed.
unscrupulous, highly successful pro-
moter: the Second in Command is
young Gardiner, part keeper of the
loot and principal deviser of strate-
gen." whom Grimstead would wei
come as a son-in-law, and the Dam
sci in Distress is his daughter Bur-
ton, who resents her fathers clumsy
matchmaking and sulks methodi-
cally We first meet the party in
the heart OF the California red
woods. where Grimstead's latest
craft. an opulent touring car. Is hard
and fast aground. and his gasoline
tank has sprung a hopeless leak
Darkness Is descending: they arS
stranded for the night, and no one.
not even the English butler, Sim
minis. knows the first rudiments of
woodcraft. Suddenly out of the no
where comes Davenport. the Bright
Shining Hero. in an absurd car with
tinny rattle but moving mysteri-
ously with noiseless engine. Daven-
port makes camp. pitches tents. pre-
pares supper-and incidentally takes
the Damsel in Distress BY storm.
Now. it would be distinctly unfair
TO imply that this diverting comedy
is either real or burlesque melo-
| drama 1t is a genial potpourri of
many moods and matters; of science
and metaphysics. trout fishing and
mountain climbing. frenzied finance
and strenuous love making. Its CEN
trail plot based on Davenport's in
vention OF a marvellous storage bat
| terry of negligible weight, which
gathers electricity from the circum-
ambient air and practically solves
the problem of perpetual motion, re-
mains. despite the clever and plaus-
ibie exposition. distinctly artificial
and unconvincing: and the author is
/ foredoomed to abolish, annihilate 1t
| before the close of the chapter, in
4 some way equally unconvincing and
artificial. or course. Grimstead.
being the pirate that he is. regards
Dayenport's perpetual motion bat
/ terry as legitimate plundcr and pro-
ceeds 10 get control OF it by a tricky
contract such as none can draw bet
ter than Gardiner But the great
Intelligences. on whom pirates fail
20 count. have willed otherwise and
ruin a project to corner the motive
power OF the world through the in
strumentality OF a sullSy. revengeful
little dog that bites a wrist that
guides steering wheel.
1 But. after all. it is not Grimstead's
greed or Gardeners eagerness to ruin
a successful rival that hold US to
this hook. These things have been
and always will be the stock prop
critics Of the whole clan OF story
tellers. What makes "On Tiptoe. .
in common with many another vol
ume by the same author. pleasantly
memorable, is its background Of great
open spaces and towering trees
which you know TO be spacious and
towering not Just because he tells
you 80 but because he makes you