The Loss of John Humble: What Led to It, and what Came of It. By G.
Norway. With 8 full-page Illustrations by John Schönberg.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, _5s._
John Humble, an orphan, is sent to sea with his Uncle Rolf, the
captain of the _Erl King_, but in the course of certain adventures
off the English coast, in which Rolf shows both skill and courage,
the boy is left behind at Portsmouth. He escapes from an English
gun-brig to a Norwegian vessel, the _Thor_, which is driven from
her course in a voyage to Hammerfest, and wrecked on a desolate
shore. The survivors experience the miseries of a long sojourn in
the Arctic circle, with inadequate means of supporting life, but
ultimately, with the aid of some friendly but thievish Lapps, they
succeed in making their way to a reindeer station and so southward
to Tornea and home again. The story throughout is singularly vivid
and truthful in its details, the individual characters are fresh
and well marked, and a pleasant vein of humour relieves the stress
of the more tragic incidents in the story.