Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
GIANTS OF THE FOREST: African
Hunting Adventures. w. s. Chad
wick. Bobbs- Merrill Co.
I. C. NJ.


termination by overcharged modern |,
gunner. Scant likelihood of such issue. |
Rather does this question bear upon the |
stable bodies of false report brought |
home. by the nirnrods of the day con-
corning wild life in remote continental
interiors
The artificial conditions set around
this brand of adventure, the hasty and |
excited period of its pursuit, the natu- |
raj instinct of the human toward per-
sonal heroics-these combine. In effect,
to defect truth, to pervert 1t with half
truth, to destroy it even by deliberate
invention.
Little Jackie Horner is as alive today
as he was when Mother Goose red1s-
covered that original man-pattern.
See what a great boy am IL has been
the contact spark of most material
achievement-not that alone Of shooting
up the animal world and then invent
ing legends in support Of such proves.
No doubt this was the very impulse
which cons ago drove the man-beast to
stand on his hind feet, freeing fore
paws thereby to develop the gentle art
of slaughter. What great boy am II"
gave rise to the mythic tales of mon
Ster and dragon in gloriication OF the
tribe of st. George, Hercules, Samson
and other wonder-men of the strong
arm and iron fist. In our own day the
great fables have petered out to the
tall talk known as fish stories" and
the apocryphal disclosures of many
modern sportsman.
But here is something different.
Giants of the Forest is a cleaning
from IS years Of personal experience
as a hunter in South Africa. Business,
not sport, founded the undertaking.
Such good substance of actuality Is the
best bid of the book to general atten-
ton. Now Is a good time to say that
here is a store of fact on the wild life
of this region that gives fresh informa-
ton about the animals with which all
are more or less familiar and which
introduces, besides, many wholly new
and strange. 1t is possible that a few
readers have bowling acquaintance with
wildebeest, puka, koodoo, sitatunga,
bushbuck, and so on, in other odd
namings. The most of US have no
therefore, definitely extends the bor-
ders of common information on the
subject of animal life. Admirable pic
lures, going along with the print, are
Of the highest service.
From points along the African coast
back into the hinterland by way of
ox-team and cart, Mr.. Chadwick has
OAChhC0 WAC NC1O, ulOoOly ny A1ASAOS 1OI
all these years, gathering a host of
interesting and exciting facts about the
ways Of wild life in the wilderness. Ad-
ventures urgent and usually dangerous
crowd into this book which is a by
product Of the exacting business of COM
nlercial hunting. Immediate and vivid,
they press into the readers imagina-
ton in an effect quite close to that of
actual partaking. Between the two,
ht1I1toP and hunted fhopa I'll
an amazing rivalry In the strategies of
pursuit and escape, of pursuit and de-
feat. Rather breathless undertaking
to join up here, even in print.
These fine stories depend for much
Of their effect upon the authors good
economy in producing them. The
theme invites to an open and lavish
Chadwick sets his own good sense and
his own feeling for true drama.
Straight tales follow, yet these are high
and picturesque adventures. Hunters
and those with the hunting instinct
will eat them up There is another
class to which they will make strong
appeal. Many are deeply interested in
the ingenuity of all living things
plants and animals-to f1t themselves to
ages taking on this trait and that one,
this power and the other one, thereby
developing complex economy of
existence, one calculated to make the
human a shade modest in his own
claims to superiority. Giants of the
Forest" pays high tribute to this deep
acumen of its various quarries. Many
will linger around this point. Others
will hurry away to be in at the killing,
or the escape. A wonderful dog story
just plain dog-takes up few stir
ring pages here. Relief from the utter
WildnesS of the most of the account.
And this is not so very tame, as you
will see. Upon the whole, here is one
in thousand of the current tales of
hunting big game.
I'M ALONE: Told to Meigs o. Frost
by Capt. Jack Randall. The Bobbs-
Merrill Co.
I'm Alone is ship. Capt. Jack
Randall is its master. Randall is q
law of the United States makes no
appeal except as bit of Puritanical
nonsense. There is big money in rum
running. So Capt. Jack sets out to
make his fortune. Down in the Gulf
of Mexico the I'm Alone meets disaster
at the hands of the law and Adventurer
Jack goes home to Nova Scotia in de-
4Cot" AAob Vic C41N vi Vic SOOIy, VI
this particular one. But there are
bound to be other ones, for, turning
away, We hear Jack muttering: What
next? Who knows? 1t will be some
adventure or other" Encouraged by
his own promises to himself, he goes
on. Those men are liars who tell
you the days of adventure are dead.
What they really mean is that they are
dead, though the undertaken hasn't
found n AduoV1f,,,.a ie l;,,i.,
thing, so long as there are men and
women, sea and land, and ships to
sail that sea on this planet" Such is
Capt. Jacks temporary farewell, which
is nothing more or less than the will
to break out again with the first
chance.
Right up to this last minute there
are 315 pages of action without a
second of pause for breath or any other
of the commonly recognized neces-
saries OF life, Born to the sea,
up Nova Scotia way, this youngster
took to his native element early, sailing
across and back again, times without
number, up and down again, no end of
times. Every part of the world-+South
America, Africa-landing here for the
Boer war, in the role of mounted scout
Chasing submarines during the World
War-then off to the Arctic North in
WnaC ne calls an 1nterlude." Such
pointing upon a few of the high spots
in this amazing career indicates the
scope of these adventures. The spirit
of them can be seized, If at all, only
by going aboard with this restless,
audacious fellow who harbors some
where within him very devil of unease
and vagabondage that drives him on
day and night, year in and out Sue
cess comes now and then, with honors
from his king and others whom he
serves. Defeat comes, more because
wars cannot last forever nor can
tl1rmnils BY land and sea 90 on with