"CAPTAIN SHEEN."

Otago Witness, Issue 2691, 11 October 1905, Page 81

"CAPTAIN SHEEN."

THRILLING ROMANCE OF NEW ZEA-

LAND HISTORY. (Fnoar Ovs. Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, August 25

A new novel of adventure has just been published by Mr T. Fisher Unwin ; it is entitled "Captain Sheen." Charles Owen is the author. The book is described as a " Romance of New Zealand History," and it fully beai-s out its claim to be so.

It begins in the autumn of 1819, when to the -home of Caspar Mirrimy and his widowed mother comes his uncle Ronald, a wizened, bleared old salt,- full of strange memories^ and with, it is hinted, a long career of crime behind him. To the care of the boy Caspar (who is, by the bye, both hero and narrator of the story) Ronald Mirrimy, ** while dying; commits a strange greenstone weapon and a chart. This latter shows the "whereabouts of a wrecked pirate ship, which, filled with treasure, was lost off the New Zealand coast. The old man warns his nephew that a certain Captain Sheen will be sure to seek him out in order* 'to obtain .the chart. Later on Captain. Sheen does come, and he obtains a powerful influence over Caspar, and induces' the- latter to- sail with him on a vessel fitted out by another old pirate, who also tabes the voyage. " Then," " says one reviewer, " terrible things occur both on the ship and among the New Zealand cannibals, the journey through a mysterious country where the last moa lives, and past a still more weird lake (Warpounamu) in order to find the treasure ship, being particularly eerie and thrilling. Those who like a wild and wellwritten romance must read the book for themselves, and see how the treasure is found, how certain of the characters get their due deserts, and how the hero returns home again through quite a maze of perils." Much of the book is devoted to a graphic account of the hideous tragedy of the "Bloody Elizabeth." one of the darkest incidents in the early history of New Zealand. The infamous Captain Stewart, master of that blood-stained vessel, and tte ferocious chiefs Rangihaeata and Te Rauparaha are prominent personages in this-in-tensely enthralling story, which most readers will find it difficult to put down until they shall have arrived at the denouement. Very few errors occur either in description or in historic facts, although the author has, perhaps, allowed his vivid imagination somewhat to run riot in his account of the great tragedy. The weakest point in the story is the use made of hypnotism, and the release of Caspar from its influence through the pure spirit of the Maori maiden. The wanton flogging of th© captive chief by order of Captain Stewart in revenge for the father's sacrifice- of his daughter's life in order to save her from shame is not mentioned, this possibly being a judicious omission. The power and vividness of the story as a -whole must command general admiration.

At Masterfcon the other day a man aged 87 was found to be looking for hard work, and scornfully rejecting 1 the idea of applyin a f<jr a pension, "while he could do a bit