BOOK OF THE WEEK.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 17 (Supplement)

BOOK OF THE WEEK.

A SUPER-RADIO STORY.

(By

C.E.)

“Ths Speakers in Silence," by “Ganpat”: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., London, through W. S. Smart, Sydney.

In recent years the gentleman who writes under the curious nom de plume of “Ganpat” has had a very considerable vogue among lovers of adventure stories. It is now no secret that he is a certain Major Gompertz, and his books have shown that he knows his Northern India better than most men do and is more than ordinarily familiar with the mysterious territories lying beyond the border. To the man with knowledge and imagination this in some ways strangest part of the world offers a remarkable field for exploration, and our friend “Ganpat” possesses a very substantial endowment of both virtues; in fact, he exercises with peculiar success the fantastic type of imaginative power that is well equipped for translating into convincing action the many strange scraps of inormation to be picked up by the observant inquirer in the by-ways of an old country still unconverted to the newest civilisation. • In “Dainra,” which has bees an- especially successful novel, “Ganpat” produced a very highly coloured romance. That was a story of 2000 years ago, notable for it fine descriptive writing and its thrilling adventures. Other works from the. same pen have also proved most exciting, but “Dainra” is mentioned here because “The Speakers in Silence” is so very different in theme. On this occasion “Ganpat” has given us ■something ultra-modern, in the form of most advanced wireless experiments in the neighbourhood of Lahore. But he runs true to form, as the sporting folk would say, and links up the marvels of the most advanced age with mysteries older than India itself.

The story opens simply enough. Kit Barrington, on leave from his army post in India, runs into an old friend, Jim Harvey, in London. The result is a visit to Harvey’s beautiful country place, where his sister Jean keeps house for him. Harvey, a very clever electrical engineer, is engaged in experiments with wireless. He has an idea that certain sounds not audible in the ordinary way may be detected by means of radio if machines can be made and attuned to the right vibrations. He is trying to hear dogs talking to each other, as he believes they do, and it is not long before he attains a measure of success. Then comes- a startling development. His very delicate machines begin to pick up-strange Voices talking a most remarkable language. The friends and Jean, having some linguistic knowledge, try to reduce the spoken language to writing. Then they call to their aid a friend at Lahore, Professor Renton, whose knowledge of languages evidently is colossal. He seeks the help of his two friends, Dr. Maxwell and Bob Kennedy, a highly placed police officer in India.

. The scone shifts entirely to India, the Harveys going out’ to stay with their friends and Barrington, now engaged to Jean, returning to duty. Professor Renton, by the way, has a very popular daughter, Di/ who is an old friend of Jim’s. Several unaccountable deaths among Indian friendfl and servants 'cause the investigators a great deal of thought, and gradually they come to the conclusion that the people who speak inaudibly in some strange tongue arc at the bottom of the trouble. The thing ifl to find out who and where they are and what their objective is. The statements and speeches culled from the wifeless plant suggest a revolutionary organisation on a greater scale than anythin* that Has preceded it.At this stage one is inclined to suppose that “Ganpat” him nothing more to reveal than a new version of a plot (which has been dressed up by a dozen in ore or less-daring novelists during the last year or two. But the next few chapters show that one ha«s been hasty. Professor Renton has formed the. opinion -that “the speakers in silence” are lusing an old and hitherto unknown language, and his research suggests that it ifl the original language from which all others • have sprung. Ito users, the investigators gradually discover, are under the control of one whom they know as the Master, and he and hits organisation regard themselves as the last of the race which originally owned the earth. They are working up a world-wide movement, apparently with the idea of killing out all the rest of mankind and again becoming the sole owners.

With its strange people, its deadly snakes, its mysterious poisons, its ancient and barbaric buildings, India id just tlie stage on which to play out a erreat conspiracy. When the conspirators have at their command marvels of scientific achievement even greater than the world actually knows to-aay they can do most thrilling things in this mysterious country. The Master has a wonderful brain and with the help of his two principal assiotante devises the moflt bizarre means to checkmate his pursuers. He comes so near succefls that the tale of adventure is a really breathlofls one.

The feature of the story that appeals to me most strongly is its restraint. I am unfeignedly glad that Kennedy and Harvey ami their friendfl arc not paraded as'super-type Sherlock Holmeses. In actual fact they make plenty of bad blunders, and the bounds of probability have to be strained to the very limit in order that the Master may not succeed in removing them from the scene of their labours. It even seemed to me that they might have made a better guess at the Master’s identity than they did, but then the looker-on—in thia case the reader—naturally sees more of the game than they who take part in it do. They are all tho more natural because they niakc mistakes, and “Ganpat” happily has the faculty of endowing his characters with very human personality, For that reason his essays into the by-paths of romance are very picafling, and a<s he has . humour they are also entertaining. ..