Part 33

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Uniform Edition of the Stories of

HERBERT STRANG

SIZE 7 3/4 in. x 5 in., CLOTH, WITH COLOUR AND HALF-TONE PLATES, AND FULL COLOUR JACKETS.

Tom Burnaby: A Story of Uganda and the Great Congo Forest. Illustrated by C. SHELDON.

A particular interest attaches to "Tom Burnaby," for it was the first romance of adventure written by Mr. Herbert Strang, and it secured for him the place in the forefront of writers of boys' stories that he has maintained ever since. The hero is attached to an expedition sent to punish a band of slave-raiding Arabs in the vicinity of the Victoria Nyanza. He is captured by the Arabs, but escapes, and, after long wanderings in the great Congo Forest, is befriended by an African chief, whom he assists in a prolonged struggle with his old enemies. The story of Tom's efforts to impart military discipline to the natives, his strategy and final triumph over the Arabs, is told with great zest and with many touches of humour.

"The tone of the story is excellent; manly and spirited, it cannot fail to rouse a response in a boy's heart."--_World_.

A Gentleman-at-Arms: Being Passages in the Life of Sir Christopher Rudd, Knight, as Related by Himself in the Year 1641.

This book is unique in literature for boys. It relates the adventurous career of an Elizabethan gentleman, in a style carefully modelled on the simple prose of the century which produced the Authorised Version of the Bible. No previous writer for boys has ever attempted a similar achievement. Apart from its romantic and exciting incidents, this story has great value by reason of its historical and geographical information, and its exceptional style.

Sultan Jim: Empire Builder. Illustrated by CYRUS CUNEO.

Mr. Herbert Strang has chosen the African continent as the setting for some of his most remarkable stories, and of these "Sultan Jim" is not the least remarkable. It was written prior to the war, when the colonising activities of rival European powers was raising problems of the greatest interest and importance. The presence of a young Englishman in one of the debatable lands at a time of upheaval and international rivalry enables him to uphold the interests of the Empire against formidable opposition. The story is brimful of adventure, and its moral is that of patriotic self-sacrifice.

The Adventures of Harry Rochester: A Story of the Days of Marlborough and Eugene. Illustrated by W. RAINEY.

Harry Rochester stands unrivalled amongst stories for boys as a living presentment of a stirring period of English history. It creates anew the glamour of the eighteenth century, and many of the great personages of the time cross its pages. Harry's ambition is to carry the Queen's colours, but his father being a poor country parson, and commissions selling high, he sees no prospect of attaining it. Nothing daunted, however, he takes whatever means offer to carve out a career for himself. As assistant to a Dutch merchant responsible for victualling certain of the Allied troops, Harry is brought into contact with the army in Flanders, and with Marlborough himself; and, later, his desire for a military career finds an outlet with the army of Prince Eugene, under whom he fights at Blenheim.

"A stirring tale ... told in such a manner as to make it welcome to any healthy-minded boy, and also, be it said, to not a few whose boyhood, alas! is many a long year behind them."--_Daily Telegraph_.

Humphrey Bold: His Chances and Mischances by Land and Sea. A Story of the Time of Benbow. Illustrated by W. H. MARGETSON.

In this book, one of Mr. Herbert Strang's best-known historical romances, are recounted the adventures of Humphrey Bold from the time when he was a puny slip of a boy attending Shrewsbury School, the butt of his companions, who chaffed him for being Bold by name and timid by nature, until he had grown into a sturdy young giant, and sailed into Plymouth Sound as First Lieutenant of the Bristol frigate. The intervening chapters tell of Humphrey's service at sea under Admiral Benbow, his capture by the French and his escape from prison, and of the many exciting events that befell him in the West Indies.

"So felicitous is he in imparting local colour to his narrative that whilst reading it we have found ourselves thinking of Thackeray. This suggests a standard by which very few writers of boys' books will bear being judged. The majority of them are content to provide their young friends with mere reading. Herbert Strang offers them literature."--_Glasgow Herald_.

Rob the Ranger: A Story of the Fight for Canada. Illustrated by W. H. MARGETSON.

"Rob the Ranger," which has been placed by General Baden-Powell first among the great scouting stories, brings out the romantic side of the fight for Canada. Rob Somers, son of an English settler in New York State, sets out with Lone Pete, a trapper, in pursuit of an Indian raiding party which has destroyed his home and carried off his younger brother. He is captured and taken to Quebec, where he finds his brother in strange circumstances, and escapes in dead of winter, in company with a little band of New Englanders. They are pursued over snow and ice, and in a log-hut beside Lake Champlain maintain a desperate struggle against a large force of French, Indians, and half-breeds, ultimately reaching Fort Edward in safety.

"If there had ever been the least doubt as to Mr. Strang's pre-eminence as a writer of boys' books, it would be very effectually banished by this work of his."--_Glasgow Herald_.

Palm Tree Island: A Romance of the South Seas. Illustrated by ARCHIBALD WEBB and ALAN WRIGHT.

In this story two boys are left on a volcanic island in the South Seas, destitute of everything but their clothes. The story relates how they provided themselves with food and shelter, with tools and weapons; how they fought with wild dogs and sea monsters; and how, when they have settled down to a comfortable life under the shadow of the volcano, their peace is disturbed by the advent of savages and a crew of mutinous Englishmen. The savages are driven away; the mutineers are subdued through the boys' ingenuity; and they ultimately sail away in a vessel of their own construction. In no other book has the author more admirably blended amusement with instruction.

"Written so well that there is not a dull page in the book."--_The World_.

"A capital story for boys, thoroughly healthy in tone, providing plenty of adventure and a quantum of the marvellous to satisfy the most exacting of our young bloods."--_Schoolmaster_.

Settlers and Scouts: A Story of Pioneering in East Africa. Illustrated by T. C. DUGDALE.

The scene of this story is laid in the Highlands of British East Africa, and the book gives a vivid and accurately-drawn picture of the dangers and hardships that even in these days await the pioneer in the more remote parts of the British Empire. It also furnishes a good deal of information respecting the country and the people amid which the story moves. An Englishman and his son emigrate thither and settle down as farmers and stock-raisers; and the difficulties they encounter, first through the depredations of wild beasts, and afterwards owing to the hostility of an Arab chief and his followers engaged in the ivory trade, prove in the highest degree their courage and resource.

"Mr. Strang, as behoves such a favourite as he, provides plenty of adventure and excitement, but he gives much practical information as well, and his books may be recommended to any reader who wishes to learn what chance there is for a white settler in Uganda or to study the state of affairs at the Congo."--_Daily Mail_.

Boys of the Light Brigade: A Story of the Peninsular War. Illustrated by W. RAINEY.

This book opens in the streets of Salamanca with Lieutenant Jack Lumsden of the 95th Rifles endeavouring to keep the peace between some of his own Riflemen and the Spaniards. His harangue in fluent Spanish is overheard by Sir John Moore, who recognises in the young officer just the man he wants for his purpose, and sends him off upon a mission of some delicacy. Thence onward, Lumsden's adventures are interwoven with the history of Moore's gallant army in the Peninsula, culminating in the great retreat and the Battle of Corunna.

"Of all the qualities that go to make up a perfect boys' book we know of none that is wanting in 'Boys of the Light Brigade,'"--_Glasgow Herald_.

Kobo: A Story of the Far East. Illustrated by W. RAINEY.

This book recounts the adventures of a young British engineer during the opening phases of the Russo-Japanese War. Bob Fawcett is sent to the Far East on behalf of his firm, which has supplied range-finding instruments to the Japanese Navy. His arrival coinciding with the outbreak of war leads, by a natural sequence of events, to his being an eye-witness of the first great sea fights by which Japan revealed herself to the world as a first-rate naval power; and the grim struggle between East and West is an ever-present background to the stirring story of his subsequent adventures amongst Cossacks and Manchu brigands, and of his friendship with Kobo, an officer of the Japanese Secret Service.

"An excellent story, such as one might expect to have from the author of that capital book, 'Tom Burnaby.' 'With a Japanese duty comes inexorably first.' This, indeed, is the keynote of the whole story. This principle of action dominates Bob's friend, and it dominates the story."--_Spectator_.

"The book is capital: full of life and vigour and local colour.... Mr. Strang has intimate personal knowledge of the countries of which he writes, which, no doubt, accounts for much of the _vraisemblance_ of his story."--_Guardian_.

Jack Brown in China: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War. (Originally published under the title of "Brown of Moukden.") Illustrated by W. RAINEY.

This book describes the adventures of a young Englishman in Manchuria during the latter stages of the Russo-Japanese War. Mr. Brown, senior, a merchant of Moukden, is wrongly convicted by the Russian authorities of giving information to the Japanese, and is deported from the city. Jack does not know where his father has been sent, but he goes through some desperate adventures in his attempts to find out, and to get his wrongs redressed. At one time he is in imminent danger of being beheaded as a "foreign devil" in an outlying village, but is delivered in the nick of time by a band of brigands; and he has more than a passing glimpse of actual warfare. There is humour as well as excitement in the book, and some of Mr. Strang's orientals are very entertaining characters.

"The equal of anything we know of in the whole range of juvenile fiction.... The book will hold boy readers spellbound."--_Church Times_.

Samba: A Story of the Congo. Illustrated by W. RAINEY.

The scene of this story is laid in the Congo Free State, where a young Englishman and his uncle, while prospecting for gold, are brought into violent contact with the Belgians who are working the rubber concessions. Moved to indignation by the sight of the barbarous methods employed to extort rubber from the natives, the hero openly champions the cause of the oppressed; he gathers about him a small force, to which he imparts a measure of military discipline, and with it administers a sharp lesson to the slave-drivers. He restores the confidence of the natives in the White Man; to them he is Lokolobolo, a great chief, and a harbinger of brighter days.

"It was an excellent idea on the part of Mr. Herbert Strang to write a story about the treatment of the natives in the Congo Free State.... Mr. Strang has a big following among English boys, and anything he chooses to write is sure to receive their appreciative attention."--_Standard_.

"Mr. Herbert Strang has written not a few admirable books for boys, but none likely to make a more profound impression than his new story of this year."--_Scotsman_.

The Adventures of Dick Trevanion: A Story of 1804. Illustrated by W. RAINEY.

This is a romance of the early years of the nineteenth century. In it the old smuggling days are made to live again, and reverberations are heard of the war with Napoleon. The Trevanions are a Cornish family, whose fortunes have fallen low through the working out of their tin mines, and the scheming of a relative who bears a grudge against the head of the house. Dick, after many exciting events in which he is involved with smugglers and French privateers, makes a happy discovery, through which the prosperity of his family is restored.

"Mr. Herbert Strang has been well called the 'Twentieth-Century Marryat.' His many books stand high up on the list of boys' favourites. and among his new books for this year none is likely to be more welcome than 'The Adventures of Dick Trevanion.' The story is dated in the early years of the nineteenth century, and Dick's adventures on land and sea are so vividly depicted by Mr. Strang that it would not be surprising to find the book in the hands of older readers with a taste for adventure."--_Gentlewoman_.

With Drake on the Spanish Main: Illustrated by ARCHIBALD WEBB.

A rousing story of adventure by sea and land. The hero, Dennis Hazelrig, is cast ashore on an island in the Spanish Main, the sole survivor of a band of adventurers from Plymouth. He lives for some time with no companion but a spider monkey, but by a series of remarkable incidents he gathers about him a numerous band of escaped slaves and prisoners, English, French and native; captures a Spanish fort; fights a Spanish galleon; meets Francis Drake, and accompanies him in his famous adventures on the Isthmus of Panama; and finally reaches England the possessor of much treasure.

"Mr. Herbert Strang bids fair to become to the present what the late G. A. Henty was to the past generation of young folk; in fact, his stirring romances, though, like Henty's, worked up on a sound historical basis, are far better written."--_The Lady_.

"Another of Mr. Herbert Strang's masterful stories of adventure and romance."--_School Guardian_.

The Air Patrol: A Story of the North-West Frontier. Illustrated by CYRUS CUNEO.

In this book Mr. Strang looks ahead to a time when there is a great Mongolian Empire whose army sweeps down on to the North-West Frontier of India. His two heroes luckily have an aeroplane, and with the help of a few Pathan miners, they hold a pass in the Hindu Kush against a swarm of Mongols, long enough to prevent the cutting of the communications of the Indian army operating in Afghanistan.

"An exceptionally good book, written moreover in excellent style."--_Times_.

"The 'Air Patrol' is really a masterpiece."--_Morning Post_.

Barclay of the Guides: A Story of the Indian Mutiny. Illustrated in Colour by W. KOEKKOEK. With Maps.

Of all our native Indian regiments the Guides have probably the most glorious traditions. They were among the few who remained true to their salt during the trying days of the great Mutiny, vying in gallantry and devotion with our best British regiments. The story tells how James Barclay, after a strange career in Afghanistan, becomes associated with this famous regiment, and, though young in years, bears a man's part in the great march to Delhi, the capture of the royal city, and the suppression of the Mutiny.

"Mr. Strang has been truly described as 'a born teacher of history,' and this story of the Indian Mutiny is an additional proof of the truth of the observation."--_Schoolmistress_.

_Complete List of Stories for Boys by_ HERBERT STRANG

ADVENTURES OF DICK TREVANION, THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY ROCHESTER, THE A GENTLEMAN-AT-ARMS A HERO OF LIEGE AIR PATROL, THE AIR SCOUT, THE BARCLAY OF THE GUIDES BLUE RAIDER, THE BOYS OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE BRIGHT IDEAS BURTON OF THE FLYING CORPS CARRY ON CRUISE OF THE GYRO-CAR, THE FIGHTING WITH FRENCH FLYING BOAT, THE FRANK FORESTER HEIR OF A HUNDRED KINGS, THE HUMPHREY BOLD JACK BROWN IN CHINA JACK HARDY KING OF THE AIR KOBO LONG TRAIL, THE LORD OF THE SEAS MOTOR SCOUT, THE NO MAN'S ISLAND OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN, THE ONE OF CLIVE'S HEROES PALM TREE ISLAND ROB THE RANGER ROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS SAMBA SETTLERS AND SCOUTS SULTAN JIM SWIFT AND SURE THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR, A THROUGH THE ENEMY'S LINES TOM BURNABY TOM WILLOUGHBY'S SCOUTS TRUE AS STEEL WINNING HIS NAME WITH DRAKE ON THE SPANISH MAIN WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME YOUNG JACK