NOVEL NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18074, 23 October 1920, Page 2

NOVEL NOTES.

"The Cross-pull." By Hal. G. Evarts. London: Hodder and Stoughion. Dnnedin : Whiicombe and Tombs. Flash, the lobo-pup, half wplf, half dog, is tho hero of this fascinating story, which. inevitably_ recalls Jack London's "The Call of the Wild." The cross-pull is, of course, the conflict continually proceeding between the instincts of the wolf in search of prey and the instincts of the dog yearning to make friends with man. In this instance Flash's affections, at first bestowed upon. Moran, who got him as a pup, trained him and brought him up, are afterwards transferred to Betty,- the girl who at the dose of I the story marries Moran. If it be accounted possible to truly translate the canine thoughts and ideas and reflections, setting them Qrf\7n in human language, Mr Evarta is to be congratulated upon the skill with which he has performed his task. In Flash's case the Jekyll and Hydo of a dog are so cl overly contrasted that the story seems to ring exactly true. The average reader of a story of this sort, however, is less concerned about its accuracy, according to natural history, than with the power of its appeal to the imagination. This is -where Mr Bmrts certainly soores; whether his narrative be true to actual fact or net, he makes it seem true, the illusion remaining until the,last page is reached. "The Cross-pull" is to be heartily reoommended as containing' a sensation and a thrill for She most hardened and invcterablo novel reader. "The Slayer of Souls." -By Robert W. Chambers. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Dcmedin: Whitcombo and Tombs.

In order to appreciate and enjoy a Robert W. Chambers, jtory a certain amount haa to be taken oii'trust at the start. In the East there has originated a diabolical conspiracy to overthrow Western civilisation by means of a cloverly-contrived psychio campaign which aims at capturing the minds of men and women, and influencing them for evil. It is such a campaign which accounts for Bolshevism, I.W.W.'ism, Direct Action, andall ; the. modern movements • which menace constituted' 'authority. In ' "The Slayer of Souls" Mr Chambers pictures the concentration of this ■ campaign on America and the efforts of the United States of America to render it of none avail. The campaign of murder and anarchy isled by the "Eight Assassins," or Sheiks-el-Djebel, "who came to the United States- to wield the weapon of. psychic power against the-minds of our people, and to pervert them and destroy all civilisation." On the one side the eight assassins are discovered in the act of 'Surprising, overpowering, and enslaving the minds of men by a misuse of psychic power." On the other hand the agents of the Secret Servioe of the United States are gaining the victory, but they are "winning solely and alone through the psychio ability and the loyalty and courage of a young girl who, through tragedy of circumstances, spent the years of her childhood in the 'infamous Yezidee temple at Train, and who learned from the devil worshipners themselves not only this so-called magic of the Mongol sorcerers, but also how to meet its psychio menace and defeat it." This girl, Tiessa Nome, became the -wife of deves' one of the heads of the Secret Service. All this in the hands of Mr Chambers develops into a weirdly sensational romance, full of psychic marvels and remarkable situations, and withal a strong love interest running through the story as one after another the assassins are met by their own psychic weapons and miserably destroyed.

The Pastors Wife." By the author of "Elizalxrth and her German Garden." London: Maemillan and Co. (3s 6d net.) This is a popular edition of a story winch, when first published in 1914, attracted considerable attention because of its intimate picture of clerical life in Germany. The ■Countess von Arnhim made a great hit frv-e years earlier with "The Caravanners," but "The Pastor's Wife' is certainly a better constructed story. In order, however that justice may be done to Germany in this respect, it is well to remember that only a little more than 60 years ago George Eliot wrote "Scenes of Clerical Life," a masterpiece with which "The Pastor's Wife" may bo said favourably to compare.