Harry Milvaine ; or, the Wanderings of a Wilful Boy.
By Gordon Stables, M.D. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—Dr. Stables gives us a very lively book. The earlier chapters, with their short, incisive sentences, sometimes remind us of Charles Reado. The little sketch of Miss Campbell, and the extraordinary pupil who is at once the plague and charm of her life, is very much in his manner. Harry escapes the dangers of childhood, increased to him tenfold by his native audacity, and, overhearing an uncle advise that he should be cured of a love for the sea by ,being sent for a whaling-trip, resolves to anticipate the plan, and goes himself. He gets his whaling-trip, behaves himself admirably, and so obtains the wish of his heart, and becomes a midshipman in the Royal Navy. His first voyage is in the Bunting,' a gunboat stationed on the East Coast of Africa to hunt the slave-dhows. Dr. Stables has a word to say here about the horrors of the trade, and is quite right in saying it, though it is bad to read. Harry is put on board a prize, falls into the hands of the Arabs, narrowly escapes the vengeance of the Arab who has lost his dhow, but finally escapes in company with a Somali, and a Negro cabin-boy who has been with him in the 'Bunting.' His adventures with native Kings make up the rest of the book. These do not please us quite as mach as the earlier chapters ; but the story is a good one.
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