A Young Hero, by G Manville Fenn.
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This is a prettily produced little book. It's not very long and doesn't
have anything like the usual Manville Fenn subtle plot.
The plot itself consists of an opening scene in which Doctor Martin, a
most learned gentleman, is teaching Phil, the hero, his Latin. Phil is
perhaps eight or none years of age, not older then that, Dr Martin is
French, while Phil is English.
It is a time in Canada in which war is about to break out between the
English, who have colonised most of North America, and the French, who
have occupied most of Canada. All of a sudden Phil's father, an officer
with the English forces, appears, and requests that Dr Martin should
abandon his house, and all his books and papers, and take the boy Phil
to him in the English lines. I should say this is a pretty ridiculous
idea, but the poor old Doctor did just as he was told, thereby suffering
many days of privation, and insult from the farmers whose land they
passed through. Eventually they arrive near the English lines, where
they are arrested as possible spies.
After a few weeks Phil's father appears, but at that point there is a
battle, in which General Wolfe dies, being brought draughts of water in
his dying hour by the young hero, Phil.
To be frank I am surprised that George Manville Fenn wrote this book, as
it could only serve to water down his reputation. But it may have been
an early work, or possibly one aimed at a different market than his
usual teenager one. There are other similarly produced books by him, so
it may have been a fancy idea by the publisher, to produce some sort of
a pseudo-historical series.
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