are afraid we dare not risk
publishing a story in which the writer has drawn on his imagination for
local colour, however vivid that imagination may be. The West African
expert at our office assures us that _Red Shadows_ contains some
inaccuracies which would be bound to spring to the eye of any reader who
had been near the West Coast. We cannot imperil the reputation of a
magazine so widely circulated as ours, and we feel that in returning the
MS. we are in some degree safeguarding your own. Thanking you for the many
excellent stories you have let us have,

Yours very truly,
J. W. INGLEBY, Editor.

II.

_Aubrey Aston to the Editor._
_Laburnam Rise, Hornsey._
_May 8th._

DEAR MR. EDITOR,--Thanks for your note. I cannot help feeling that you were
to some extent influenced by your knowledge of the fact that I had never
been near the West Coast. I hope, however, to visit the White Man's Grave
shortly and will possibly let you have some stuff from the spot.

Yours,
A. A.

III.

_The Same to the Same._
_From Sherbro, Sierra Leone._
_June, 18th._

Mr. Aubrey Aston begs to enclose to the Editor of "The Globe Fiction
Magazine" another West African effort, and hopes that it may pass his
critic.

IV.

_The Editor to Aubrey Aston._
_July 31st._

DEAR MR. ASTON,--Herewith proof of _The Case of Mr. Everett._ I trust you
will be able to let us have some more West Coast tales while you are out.
Stories with the true African ring about them, from such a practised pen as
your own, are hard to come by. Our "critic" passed _Mr. Everett_ with
honours. You will no doubt see yourself by now how comparatively bald and
unconvincing _Red Shadows_ is, when set against a tale "hot from the oven."

Yours very truly,
J. W. I.

P.S.--Our West African expert asks me to thank you for information on
several points on which he had been hazy. It is news to him that the Mendes
have an Arabic strain in their blood; he had believed them to be pure
Zishtis. He had also been in the dark as to the origin of the "leopard"
murders.

V.

_From Aubrey Aston to the Editor._
_Hornsey, September 20th._

DEAR MR. EDITOR,--Many thanks for the proof (forwarded to me from Sierra
Leone) of _The Case of Mr. Everett_--which I return corrected--and for your
very gratifying note.

I'm afraid I have not yet found time to visit West Africa, but I still hope
to