prescient of the great success of the play which would be made from the
story. But those who read mystery stories habitually knew well that a
mystery-builder of exceptional adroitness had arrived. Of course, Cyril
McNeile, under the pen name "Sapper," was already somewhat known in
America by several war books; but _Bulldog Drummond_ was a novelty.
Apparently it was possible to write a first rate detective-mystery story
with touches of crisp humour as good as Pelham Grenville Wodehouse's
stuff! There is something convincing about the hero of _Bulldog Drummond_,
the brisk and cheerful young man whom demobilisation has left unemployed
and whose perfectly natural susceptibility to the attractiveness of a
young woman leads him into adventures as desperate as any in No Man's
Land.

For Cyril McNeile's new story _The Black Gang_, after the experience of
_Bulldog Drummond_ as a book and play, Americans will be better prepared.
An intermediate book, _The Man in Ratcatcher_, consists of shorter stories
which exhibit very perfectly McNeile's gift for the dramatic situation. He
gives us the man who returned from the dead to save his sweetheart from
destruction; the man who staked his happiness on a half forgotten waltz;
the man who played at cards for his wife; the man who assisted at suicide,
either ordinary short stories nor ordinary motifs! I should hesitate to
predict how far McNeile will go along this special line of his; but I see
no reason why he should not give us the successor of Sherlock Holmes.

=iii=

_Black Caesar's Clan_ is the good title of Albert Payson Terhune's new
story in succession to his _Black Gold_, a mystery story that was
distinguished by the possession of a Foreword so unusual as to be worth
reprinting--one of the best arguments for this type of book ever penned:

"If you are questing for character-study or for realism or for true
literature in any of its forms,--then walk around this book of mine (and,
indeed, any book of mine); for it was not written for you and it will have
no appeal for you.

"But if you care for a yarn with lots of action,--some of it pretty
exciting,--you may like _Black Gold_. I think you will.

"It has all the grand old tricks: from the Weirdly Vanishing Footprints,
to the venerable Ride for Life. Yes, and it embalms even the
half-forgotten and long-disused Struggle on the Cliff. Its Hero is a hero.
Its Villain is a villain. Nobody could possibly mistake either of them for
t