"--_Yorkshire Evening Paper_
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[Illustration: _Mike (in bath-chair)_. "DID YE SAY WE'LL BE TURNING
BACK, DENNIS? SURE THE EXERCISE WILL BE DOING US GOOD IF WE GO A BIT
FURTHER."]
* * * * *
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
(_BY MR. PUNCH'S STAFF OF LEARNED CLERKS._)
The numerous members of the public who like to take their printer's
ink with something more than a grain of sea-salt will welcome
_Sea-Spray and Spindrift_ (PEARSON), by their tried and trusted
friend, TAFFRAIL, the creator of _Pincher Martin, O.D._ TAFFRAIL, it
must be admitted, has a dashing briny way with him. He doesn't wait to
describe sunsets and storm-clouds, but plunges at once into the thick
of things. Consequently his stories go with a swing and a rush, for
which the reader is duly grateful--that is, if he is a discerning
reader. Of the present collection most were written some time ago and
have no reference to the War. Such, for instance, is "The Escape of
the _Speedwell_," a capital story of the year 1805, which may serve to
remind us that even in the glorious days of NELSON the English Channel
was not always a healthy place for British shipping. "The Channel,"
says TAFFRAIL, "swarmed with the enemy's privateers.... Even the
merchant-ships in the home-coming convoys, protected though they were
by men-of-war, were not safe from capture, while the hostile luggers
would often approach the English coast in broad daylight and harry the
hapless fishing craft within a mile or two of the shore.
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