men of the
ranks) shut up in different fortresses, and particularly because he has
been thoughtful enough to mention many of them by name, his narrative is
one which nobody with near friends now in Germany can afford to miss.
The general reader, on the other hand, may have to confess to some
disappointment, since the foggy shadow of the Censor, German or English,
still looms over the pages here and there, blotting out the sensational
episodes which we felt we had reason, if not right, to expect; and if
their absence is really due to Mr. O'RORKE'S steady refusal to indulge
us by embellishing his almost too unvarnished recital the effect is just
the same. Or perhaps the suggestion of flatness is to be ascribed to the
enemy's failure on the whole to treat certain of his victims in any very
extraordinary manner, and if so we can accept it and be thankful. There
are lots of interesting passages all the same, such as the account of
the specially favourable treatment of officers from Irish regiments,
accorded in all Teutonic seriousness as preparatory to an invitation to
serve in the ranks of Prussia; or the pathetic incident of the
white-haired French priest sent to the cells for urging his congregation
to pray _pour nos ames_. Nowhere outside the Fatherland, I should
imagine, would prisoners be forbidden to pray even _pour nos armes_, and
the stupidity of the misunderstanding is typical enough. The cheerful
dignity shown by prisoners under provocation makes a fine contrast to
such pitiful smallness, and of that this little book is a notable
record.

* * * * *

I suppose it would not be possible to travel in the Pacific without a
fountain-pen and a note-book. At all events this seems a privation from
which the staunchest of our literary adventurers have hitherto shrunk.
Do not however regard this as anything more than a casual observation,
certainly not as implying any complaint against so agreeable a volume as
_Voyaging in Wild Seas_ (MILLS AND BOON). There must be many among the
countless admirers of Mr. JACK LONDON who will be delighted to read this
intimate journal of his travellings in remote waters, written by the
wife who accompanied him, and who is herself, as she proves on many
pages, one of the most enthusiastic of those admirers. You may say there
is nothing very much in it all, but just some pleasant sea-prattle about
interesting ports and persons, and a number of photographs rather