The New York herald., 1922-06-25

II
bers on a youthfully adven-
turous spree. He has chosen
to do a substantial, old fashioned
"dime' novel, differing chiefly from
the time honored Beadle variety in
that 1t is of course written in excel
dent English and is a little less ex-
uberant in Its detail than some of
those classics. But in it's essence,
its plot. its incident. its psychology
and the mechanics of its working out
TO a climax il does not differ ma
tsriaIly from the literature which a
less expensive generation than our
own was, once upon time. able to
buy in yellow back paper covers, or,
even more frugally. in badly printed,
coverless pamphlet form for the
humble dime. Now We have the
dime novel de Inre.
Upon this foundation there is
added. also. slight structure from
Ouida's building materials. in the
noble lady from Russia and in the
character of one Of the near heroes.
And let US admit. in all seriousness.
that combination of Ouida and the
Beadle dime novel makes an excel
lent formula for the thriller" for.
pruned of some of their crudities and
toned down bit. many of those ad-
Eenturous romances were mighty
in the case of a master builder such
as Mr. Chambers, this book makes a
very good job OF it. IL is a largely
planned. spacious affair. lavishly fur
pished with thrills from cellar and
drains TO the attic.
: But that figure may be misleading.
for there is nothing static about this
story. 1t moves: not after the
manner Of the modern motion pic
fure. but in the more logical and nat
nrsFmanner of the inspired writer's
who made the late Beadle famous
Chambers addicts OF the more recent
years will perhaps be disappointed to
Iind very little heart interest" in it,
scarcely any of the sex stuff of the
popular magazine serial OF course
the lady In the case is properly pur-
sued by various villains, but they are
rot after her-it is the jewels they
swant And of course she has a noble
l..
into the spotlight, and both he and
.she remain really minor elements in
1.-THE story. Interest centers on the
Fheavy villain. and upon the exceed
ingly elusive jewels that made most
fspf the trouble in the story.
> This leading villain is very high
9elass villain indeed: of the sneering.
5 occasionally polite variety. but OF an
SeE around efficiency. At one stage
Eof the game, when he and his gang
9have successfully kidnapped the girl
<and are holding her for ransom, on
hn Adirondack mountain top. this
sthoroughgoing villain prepares to cut
: off her fingers and toes. one by one,
pas a happy afterthought. to burn
Then off. There is nothing at all
2eoueamish about him. OF course. the
experienced reader knows that he is
sto be foiIed before the lady is seri-
ousIy ineonvenienced; in fact. she
does the foiIing herself. but IL you
want to know how you must read the
book. 1t was a stunt" that would
qualify her for job as a substitute
for the movie actress in any perilous
exploit
! The name of this engaging rascal
Is Jose Quintana. and he is. ap-
parently. a Portuguese halfbreed
(which is something of a novelty in
international villain heroes. He Is
the head of a gang of crooks whose
operations extend from Bolshevik
Russia to the Businesses of the Adj
rondaek forest. He bringsshis gang
trailing along. although they are not
of much use TO him: a Frenchman.
Englishman, a nondescript Levan-
tine dealer in jewels from New York.
an extraneous Greek and others.
Thrown in for good measure. and that
they may be killed off. at the proper
time. in sufficiently CHASTITY ways.
The trouble began in Russia, when
Ouintana stole the wonderful jewels