Reading one of Mr. E. Laurie Long's books is like setting off on an advent-urans voyage to the out-of-the-way ports of the world. In his latest book "Captain Flynn" (Ward Lock, London. Colonial Edition 3/6) Mr. Long takes his readers on a perilous trip round the Horn. This is another episode in the exciting life of young Bryan Flynn, that bold Irishman of the seas who in this story finally gets a command to himself after a series of thrill ling adventures in which the captain of the ship dies and the first mate is thrown overboard. Flynn goes to sea under Captain Leslie, an old skipper fe meets in a small town on the Mississippi River. Captain Leslie sets off on a salvage expedition with the help of Flynn and the German engineer, Casson, to take a weather-beaten old tramp to the Galapagos to pull a cargo steamer off the rocks. Flynn really goes on the trip out of sympathy for the old skipper who is badly in need of the salvage money to clear the mortgage on his old river boat. It is very confusing to the reader, then, to discover in subsequent chapters Captain Leslie sticking a gun into Flynn's ribs at every available opportunity and hurling a torrent of abuse at the Irishman, thus causing Flynn to be lost in admiration at the old man's spirit. Mr. Long really knows his subject and enlivens his tale by the interjection of numerous anecdotes of the old sail. ing days, There is one thing that the reviewer must take exception to, and that is Mr. Long's contention that sea captains are a simple lot and stand in deadly fear of landsman when it comes to conversation. According to the author the sea captain usually tries to cover up his lack of worldly knowledge by a few stock phrases. Anyone who has had dealings with skippers, however, will tell you that sea captains are astonishingly well informed on world affairs and can hold their own in any company.—T.AB.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.