Through Forest and Stream, or, The Quest of the Quetzal, by George
Manville Fenn.
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The book is apparently quite genuinely by George Manville Fenn, judging
by its style and content. Yet it does not appear on any list of his
books, and copies of it seem to be very rare. For that reason we have
not been able to put a verified publication date on the book. It does
not even appear in the British Library's catalogue, indicating that it
was possibly not registered for copyright. It is fairly short, taking
but three hours to read aloud. It was published in the same cover as
"The New Forest Spy," which is approximately of the same length, so that
they can both be regarded as longish short stories.
The book can be regarded as a sequel to "Nat the Naturalist", except
that the action takes place somewhere in the jungles of South America.
The Quetzal is a beautiful bird with a long tail, and beautifully
coloured. The object of the expedition is to shoot, skin, and mount
specimens. There is a passing reference to Ebo, who appears in "Nat the
Naturalist" between chapters 25 to 43, so that gives us some kind of a
date, for that book was first published in 1883. Let us say 1884 or
1885. Possibly Fenn was asked by members of his young readership for
more about Nat, and this is the result.
The co-hero is Pete, whom we first meet on board ship being maltreated
by the captain. When Nat and his uncle are dropped off with their own
small boat, and are camping ashore for their first night, they discharge
their fire-arms at sounds they take to be enemy locals. The noises turn
out to be Pete and Cross, the ship's carpenter, who had jumped ship.
Pete had been a dirty-looking frightened boy on the ship, but with a
quick wash of the face he turns out to be quite a useful lad, and plays
a full part in the expedition.
There is the usual Fenn style of apparently mortal perils, overcome by
cunning or luck, and it is quite a good read or listen.
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THROUGH FOREST AND STREAM; OR, THE QUEST OF THE QUETZAL, BY GEORGE
MANVILLE FENN.