The life of the Mayne Reid in whom we are most interested--Mayne Reid, the author--began at this time, when he was in his thirty-first year, and ended only on the day of his death, October 21, 1883. It covered one-third of a century, and was, when compared with that which had preceded it, uneventful, if not devoid of incident. There is not much that needs be told--not much, indeed, that can be told--in the life of a man of letters like Captain Mayne Reid. It is written in his books. Mayne Reid was one of the best known authors of his time--differing in this from many authors who are popular without being known--and in the walk of fiction which he discovered for himself he is an acknowledged master. His reputation did not depend upon the admiration of the millions of young people who read his books, but upon the judgment of mature critics, to whom his delineations of adventurous life were literature of no common order. His reputation as a story-teller was widely recognized on the Continent, where he was accepted as an authority in regard to the customs of the pioneers and the guerilla warfare of the Indian tribes, and was warmly praised for his freshness, his novelty, and his hardy originality. The people of France and Germany delighted in this soldier-writer. "There was not a word in his books which a school-boy could not safely read aloud to his mother and sisters." So says a late English critic, to which another adds, that if he has somewhat gone out of fashion of late years, the more's the pity for the school-boy of the period. What Defoe is in Robinson Crusoe--realistic idyl of island solitude--that, in his romantic stories of wilderness life, is his great scholar, Captain Mayne Reid. R. H. Stoddard. CONTENTS. I The Land of the Slave II. Types of the Triple Kingdom III. The Serpent's Tongue IV. 'Ware the Tide! V. A False Guide VI. Wade or Swim? VII. A Compulsory Parting VIII. Safe Ashore IX. Uncomfortable Quarters XI. 'Ware the Sand! XII. A Mysterious Nightmare XIII. The Maherry XIV. A Liquid Breakfast XV. The Sailor among the Shell-fish XVI. Keeping under Cover XVII. The Trail on the Sand XVIII. The "Desert Ship" XIX. Homeward Bound XX. The Dance Interrupted XXI. A Serio-Comical Reception XXII. The Two Sheiks XXIII. Sailor Bill Beshrewed XXIV. Starting on the Track XXV. Bill to be Abandoned XXVI. A Cautious Retreat XXVII. A Queer Quadruped XXVIII. The Hue and Cry XXIX. A Subaqueous Asylum XXX. The Pursuers Nonplussed XXXI. A Double Predicament XXXII. Once more the mocking Laugh XXXIII. A Cunning Sheik XXXIV. A Queer Encounter XXXV. Holding on to the Hump XXXVI. Our Adventures in Undress XXXVII. The Captives in Conversation XXXVIII. The Douar at Dawn XXXIX. An Obstinate Dromedary XL. Watering the Camels XLI. A Squabble between the Sheiks XLII. The Trio Staked XLIII. Golah XLIV. A Day of Agony XLV. Colin in Luck XLVI. Sailor Bill's Experiment XLVII. An Unjust Reward