Evening star., 1923-10-14

story itself: An erratic turn of Provi-
dence In the management OF the sea
leaves the island in the Possession of
one sailorman and q baby boy.
of interesting to do. since there are
only the sailorman and the growing
boy to do at all. BY and by Provi-
dence and the Pacific again bring 20
mind the neglected and possibly for
set adrift young girl-aIso a white
waif from a distant group-and in
| the course of perilous days she. too.
lands on the Garden of God. You see
now that we have here a new garden
OF Eden. new Adam and Eve. Poetic
and lovely stuff. much OF 1t. all of 1t
cast in the spirit of youth and inno-
cence In a real ingenuity of circun1-
STANCE and in an equal feeling for
the human qualities that so unusual
situation might Of could be likely
to bring into the open. An Original
theme, this. with which the author
deals in a sensitive and Intelligent
artistry Of invention.
ISLAND OF DESTINY. BY Arthur ].
KEGS author of THE Moon Rock"
i. etc. New York: Dodd, Mead &s Co.
Another south Pacific island, the
Island of Destiny" A bird sanctuary,
this one, over which the British gov
ernment exercises protection and
care. When the story opens the off,
ctal guardian OF the vast popula ton
or seabirds that home upon the island
Is q young Englishman whose appear
ance arouses curiosity and comment
among the seamen who at rare in
terVals land supplies upon the island
An odd thing for a young man to do,
to maroon himself upon q desolate
rock In the Pacific with only dog
Tor company. Something to look into
mere. That is what the reader thinks
TOO. And there is a mystery back OF
TINS self-exile. To follow II leads one
from the island to England and back
to the island again. The author
| more than once brings one lust to the
edge OF the mystery. but he never
quite lets go, never quite discloses the
reason why a weIl-born young Eng
lishman should have for years lived
Much of the story unfolds in England
! IN complicated tangle of misunder-
standing and cross purposes, and In
q nnal tragedy that looks at one time
as II II, too, might be added to the
burdens OF this already overloaded
young man. An ambitious story.
whose author has set himself a man
size job in sustaining deep mystery,
IN developing romance out of most
unusual social situation, In keeping
TO the top an individual Innocence
that bears a marked. resemblance to
guift-in word, to conduct an ex-
citing adventure to q plausible con-
clusion through n perfect motley of
ciashing interests, opposed PERSONAL
ties, hostile objectives and a host OF
diverse ways of doing things. This
writer is as strong on atmosphere as
he Is at home with mystery itself.
THE SCARLET MACAW. BY G.. T..
Locke, author of THE Red Cav
alier." Boston: L. c. Page &, Co.
Like everybody else that talks TOO
much, the red macaw was dangerous
Damaging speech the red macaw was
the next morning found dead--poi-
soned. The doing away with the bird
served no better purpose than to mix
up suspicious, even more hopelessly
than they had been mixed. But that,
of course, was just the purpose that
the incident had been meant to serve.
To go back-the familiar situation Is
, that of mysterious murder. One was
going to say deadly familiar"-but,
after all. anybody who has the cour-
age and industry to write a story de-
serves courteous and considerate
treatment. Therefore, we did not say
deadly familiar" Instead. we fol-
pursuit and detection with patience
and interest. Now stories of this class
are all pretty good stories. This one
is. But. il the question Is not wholly
OUT oi oTuer, one "ouid IKE TO ask
when the detective romancers and the
murder f1ctionists are going to try, at
least, to break out Of the coil OF dead
ly sameness in which all of them-the
whole kit-and- -cabo oodle-ara en-
meshed. A few weeks ago Ben Hecht
wrote mystery story In ten hours,
as one remembers the time. II is the
best one that has appeared lately.
Why not try the speed limit on these
tales? Yes, one admits that he is
making the author of THE Scarlet
Macaw" a kind of scapegoat. @. E.
Locke certainly has written as good
n story as any OF his tribe has-save
Hecht. Why not try some new ap-
r--- - this to the perennial mur-
der mystery?
BOOKS RECEIVED.
THE OPEN DOOR DOCTRINE IN RE-