Evening star., 1927-03-06

iS-N ~ 31F%ENEN W ! IL t.t1l
| BANDITS. BY Harvey ]. Howard.
| NJ. y. Illustrated. New York: Dodd,
/ Mead and Company
| 1T Is about a wear now since Or.
Howard of the Rockefeller Hospital
! i'm Peking WAS stolen by the Black
/ Dragon River bandits. carried away
/ to their mountain retreat and held
! there for 10 weeks or thereabout
| There are many forgettings about
| China in a year. nowadays. so fast do
events crowd one another in that
| chao state. And many of us had
| quite forgotten the capture of Or.
! Howard. Here is a reminder of it. in
| the doctors own story of his unSOught
| adventure. Here he pictures the
| bandits paradise on the Sungari River,
giving in detail the pursuits of the
rascals who center their activities on
/ this stream. He tells of his own
| seizure and of the treatment that he
received al the hands of the marauding
/ bands. No fun to be stolen away in
| China anywhere, these days, and in
| brisk detail this victim pictures his
anxieties, all soundly based, and moves
| on to the point where he begins to
use his mind to placate his captors,
/ to match his wits with theirs and to
come out, finally, with a whole skin
| A graphic tale of adventure whose
| foundation has the merit of being
/ the truth. In q more composed age
| this story would be called a brazen
| invention and would be classed with
| the tales of Munchausen, or with
| those of Jules Verne before the lat.
| ter came into responsibility by being
| classed with scientists instead of
with plain liars. However, the main
| point here is that this is true
story, supplying in reality all the
| thrills of hazard and escape that are
| commonly supposed to lie in fiction
| of the simon-pure variety. Intensely
| interesting you will find the whole
| matter to be. Not quite so important
| as this, but important notwithstand-
| Ing, is the fact that the record gives
| a new view upon certain localities in
/ China that, for good reason. are not
| easily obtainable.
| X K II
SEA WHISPERS. By w. w. Jacobs.
| author of Deep Waters" etc.
| Illustrated by Bert Thomas New
York; Charles Scribner's Sons
THE seven years that have passed
since readers have heard from
| w. w. Jacobs would, according to
| the scientists, present a brand-new
man to us with this fresh group of
| short stories. Too bad For the
other Jacobs was quite all right and,
| besides, there is a risk in taking on
any new thing. A false alarm. For
| the very first Of the dozen warns
| offered us here demonstrates beyond
! doubt that, unlike the rest of the
world, this man Jacobs hasn't slough.
ed himself according to regulations.
Af1d h0 HNA
| laughter and that easy inside feel
ing that is called comfort as here we
read of the things that come to pass
| along the water fronts of the world,
or certain parts of it. And we come
| upon the wise common people that
| this writer knows so we'll We talk
with them and get into scrapes with
h m-innocent. human, kindly
scrapes-out of which the author
adroitly rescues the whole of us with
no end of fun and good feeling.
holesome-a much misused word,
| but good one nevertheless--is what
these tales are. because some way
they anchor invariably on the decent
side OF human nature, on the kindly
ana understanding side. So we like
them, and you will, too.
Is X
LIGHTING SEVEN CANDLES. Rv
Cynthia lombard. author of "A
Cry of YOUTH" etc. New York:
d. Appleton & Co.
HERE is romance, pure and sim
pie. No sermon walks concealed
within the matter. No moral steps
soberly out from it. Instead, the
plain purpose here is to interest and
divert praiseworthy purpose on
the part of the novelist. The entire
to-do Is projected for the sake Of
bringing together two people widely
separated by circumstance in order
that they may fulfill the requirements
imposed upon all life by a far-sighted
and Unsuitable nature. Like a hosDita-
Bile hostess, this author is bountifuI
in providing ways and means to meet
the end required. A rich Italian
background supports the rather in
volved movement set down here. And,
indeed, this background commits a
clear impropriety now and then by
moving out from its subordinate place
into the forefront of the readers in
terest and enjoyment. Against this
admirable back drop move the adven-
lures of the pair that are destined
to come together finally. But there
are obstacles in the way The most
sardonically active of these is that
earlier affair between the men in the
case and a beauteous lady of other
days and years. More than this. there
are quite mysterious hindrances at
hand and roundabout. An old castle
revitalizes and sets upon it's feet
real fairy tale, 1.-The sleeping beauty"
while it harbors, besides, queer things
that are not so easy to unite as a
mere fable or myth. In the deepest
stresses of this love tide. so disas-
trously damned and pent and sent
astray, mysticism itself comes in with
its far-brought assistance. And then,
like most of the book love of the
world, everything disappears save the
two, who "since the foundations of
to each other" A long story of
painstaking detail and a very real
richness of ornamentation.
FANTOMAS CAPTURED. BY Mar
Gel Allain. author of ''The Lord of
Terror" etc. Translated and edited
by A r. Allinson. Philadelphia:
David Mckay Co.
THE fabulous rascal Areene is.
= certainly. the immediate forbear
of this whirlwind of a villain, Fan
tomas. AT this juncture there are
pitted against his craft Juve. the |
great detective. and bis devoted fol- |
lower, Fandor the journalist. A
theatrical scamp, this Fantomas, who |
loves to appear suddenly before his |
pursuers and then. while they are |
coming to out of their surprise, to |
disappear as quickly and mysteri- |
ously. Well, here is an adventure |
packed with incidents, not one of |
which is to be believed, but all of |
which take hold of the reader in an |
irresistible pull that carries him from |
one spectacular impossibility to an
other one. And, even with the cap /
ture of Fantomas, achieved through |
1Ix s.. 4K,s,&