Hyne John Cutcliffe Wright

"The pay is small enough," said Captain Kettle, staring at the blue paper. "It's a bit hard for a man of my age and experience to come down to a job like piloting, on eight pound a month and my grub."

The wandering Englishman, the atom of empire, at sundry ends of the earth is not always good company in the flesh, but in Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne's stories he is good company. For the reader is not in the position of the "native"; he is, on the contrary, elected of the company of proper Britons and talked to as an equal. Those who try this book will have no sharp regrets.

This story deals with the participants in an expedition that successfully captures the presidency of a Central American republic. It is very exciting, the incidents being fresh and daring with not too much reliance placed on coincidence.

A classic "lost race" story, with all of the required elements: a seductive empress, a straight-arrow hero, battles, escapes, sorcery, and earth-shattering cataclysms! Eminently readable and very entertaining, without any profundity to distract a fan of Haggard, Aubrey, or Janvier-style fantasy literature.