ise-Shell_ (LANE) would have made an excellent short
story, but to pursue its farcical developments through three hundred
pages requires a considerable amount of perseverance. The scene of Mr.
PETER BLUNDER'S book is laid in tropical Jallagar, where the British
Resident was keener on cats than on his duties. A male tortoise-shell
was what he fanatically and almost ferociously desired, and to obtain
it he was ready to barter his daughter to one _Kamp_, who is tersely
described as "a fat Swede." I conceived a strong distaste for this
large and perspiring man, and can congratulate Mr. BLUNDELL on having
created a character odious enough to linger in the memory. For the
rest there are some gleams of real fun where a beach-comber tries to
palm off a dyed cat as the long-deferred tortoise-shell, and the exit
of this animal from a world too covetous to hold it is thoroughly
sound farce. But on the whole I failed to get many of those quiet
gurgles of delight which are the best tribute one can pay to a funny
man's work.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Chairman at Farmers' Ordinary._ "NOW, GENTLEMEN, FILL
UP YOUR MATCHBOXES TO THE VERY GOOD HEALTH OF THE CATERER."]

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
153, OCT. 17, 1917***

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