'In this he breaks fresh ground by making the hero a son of Australian soil and a sailor. From ship to shore the author transfers him, and borough many adventures amongst the golden deserts of Western Australia and sea life of the eastern seas, he guides the reader with the masterhand of one who always knows the people of whom he is writing, and therefore carries one through a most interesting number of incidents in which the hero comes out safe in the end, with the luck of the native-born to carry him through. While admitting that some of Mr. Barry's former short stories of the sea and the bush appeal to one with greater sympathy, the present work contains some very striking passages and, as an Australian tale pure and simple of breezy adventures, is most acceptable and welcome.'
Source:
'Recent Publications', Evening News, 21 January 1899, p.4 [supplement].
