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MADMANS ISLAND.
(By lon L. Idrieis).
Australia: Cornstalk * Puhllshin»
Conman v, Our eopv from Angus ami
Robertson Ltd,, Sydney,
The world will always open its anns
to a story well told, lt need not be
Iî"iw1 in the nhrasc sn dear to the Ad
disoninn devotees or to the torpe fol.
lowing which the .American, writers
of- prairies and cowboys and guns and
wnlJ-evrd buckjumpers have made
peculiarly their own. What is ncces
. "rv is incident, full and flowing over;
adventure, love, hate (especially the
later two), Madman's Island" (s a
good story, told directly, and with a
trreat deni of ir'n in it, lt is decidyl'v
Australian-and thc better for being
North Australian, It deals with life,
as made hy thc adventurous-they are
not yet all dead-who probe into
things alone thc tropic ernst and. the
null of it all. find manv things worth
while, lon h. Idriess has given us a
book to road-about the Barrier Reef
waters and the coast, tile adventures
through which two prospectors went
in searching for wealth-in tin-on
Madman's Island-and what befell
them, and certain other people. There
is movement, and there is life in .it
nil, such as one may find in thc lati-
tudes that have called .to men and
"-omen who have felt thc "pull" of
thc North, and casting a die with for.
unie. I¡ '.vc, fouiiif i»-sotnethnè-s. Al-
ways, whatever their luck,, have they
found something, The scone of this
st orv is nnt hy any means circum-
scribed. There is an amazing amount
nf detail In il, The 'vam woven around
thc hectic days on the island, and what
follows holds the reader to his task
to read for the joy bf that which he
senses must follow, Those fortunates
who know ROinetlilntT of the Barrier,
of Cooktown, of Cuirns. nf the people
who «have pulled into «he North
sometimes-'tn pill out very hastily
will reatl with especial interest much
«'<at the author has in his workman- . ;
like wav put together, lt ls a remark- j,
able circumstance* how tri'e fic»hvv '
sometimes is with the tr'^'i'l]
of fact, One wonder* .is he reads i
just what thc author has left unsaid- ¡
about people ami the lives of-well ¡
nennte'- Ch'ncse, Japanese, and the ,
»meer fish which sn often drift with
th«"tide to the North-ad with a pur- .
Îiosc-arc limned in "Madman's' ls- ,
and." There are some that m:iv btv
recognised without much trimble, ns
a type. Decidedly a hook to be read
by. anyone who knows the1 Nnr'h. itu»!
rp iron ins a part of this wonderful
country).
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