BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue XIII, 24 September 1898, Page 312

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

The scene of Mr Oliphant Smeaton's new story, •'rhe Treasure Cave of the Blue Mountains.’ is laid among the magnificently grand but sombre scenery in the very heart of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

Readers of Colonial history will recall the wreck of the Spanish treasure ship Para, away back in the early years of the century, when New South Wales was a convict station. The vessel was abandoned by her crew, but was found and looted by a party of runaway convicts, who conveyed the treasure in the ship's boats via the Hawkesbury. the Nepean, and Cox's River to an exceedingly inaccessible series of caverns in the heart of the Blue Mountains. Here it was secreted, and as the convicts had already discovered gold in an underground creek, of which so many exist in Australia, considerable adidtions were made to the store. But by the sale of some of the gold, all the convicts save one was captured, and died soon after owing to the cruelty they experienced in confinement. The only one remaining, who was a political prisoner, revealed the secret of the treasure eave to a man who befriended him. and these two. along with the brothers of the latter, worked the field in secret for some time. Owing to some disputes they relinquished it, taking an oath that only the sole survivor of the party was to reveal the secret. Two of the party were drowned in the Orpheus in 1863, one was pardoned and returned to England to inherit his family estates, and the survivor named Cardiff revealed the secret and disclosed the plan of the route to a strong resourceful young Scots-Colonial, John Cameron. The story is concerned with the wonderful series of adventures and experiences undergone by Cameron and two of his friends, along with Cardiff's daughter who acts as their guide, before they win the treasures. These experiences include repeated attacks by bushrangers led by the wellknown desperado, Black Bob; adventures upon the underground river, and in the mysterious prehistoric burialcity that stands in the heart of the Blue Mountains on the banks of the Silent River. A love idyll is interwoven with the story of adventure. Mr Oliphant Smeaton, apart from his books, is well known in the Colonies from a lengthy connection with the press in Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney and Rockhampton. Mr Smeaton's principal works are By Adverse Winds,’ ‘Our Laddie,’ and ‘Viola.’ He has also written the lives of ‘Allan Ramsay,’ ‘Tobias Smollett.’ and ‘William Dunbar,’ for the famous Scots Series.

The new story will be illustrated by Mr Joseph Brown, and published by Messrs Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier.