held out from August, 1914, till after the Armistice with a
small force mainly composed of native askaris, and with hardly any
assistance from overseas, is proof in itself of his organizing ability,
his military leadership and his indomitable determination. As these are
qualities which are valued by his late enemies his story of the
campaign, _My Reminiscences of East Africa_ (HURST AND BLACKETT), should
appeal to a large public, especially as it is written on the whole in a
sporting spirit and not without some sense of humour. His descriptions
of the natural difficulties of the country and the methods he adopted
for handling them are interesting and instructive. But in military
matters his story is not altogether convincing; for if his "victories"
were as "decisive" as he represents them how is it that they were
followed almost invariably by retirement? The results are attributed in
these pages to "slight mischances" or "unfavourable conditions" or
merely to "pressure of circumstances." Would it not have been better,
while he was about it, to claim boldly that he was luring us on? This is
a question on which one naturally refers to the maps, and it is
therefore all the more regrettable that these contain no scale of
mileage, an omission which renders them almost meaningless. How many
readers, for instance, will realise that German East Africa was almost
twice the size of Germany? The translation on the whole is good, though
some phrases such as "the at times barely sufficient ration" are rather
too redolent of the Fatherland.

* * * * *

I see that on the title-page of his latest story Mr. W. E. NORRIS is
credited with having already written two others (specified by name),
etc. Much virtue in that "etc." I cannot therefore regard _The Triumphs
of Sara_ (HUTCHINSON) precisely as the work of a beginner, though it has
a freshness and sense of enjoyment about it that might well belong to a
first book rather than to--I doubt whether even Mr. NORRIS himself could
say offhand what its number is. _Sara_ and her circle are eminently
characteristic of their creator. You have here the same well-bred
well-to-do persons, pleasantly true to their decorous type, retaining
always, despite modernity of clothes and circumstance, a gentle aroma of
late Victorianism. Perhaps _Sara_ is the most immediate of Mr. NORRIS'S
heroines so far. Her money-bags had been filled in Manchester, and from
time to time in h