Calibre-Web | The Night-Born

The Night-Born

Published: Jan 2, 1916

Page Count: 149

1356. THE NIGHT-BORN. +Century; new York, 1913.

Mills and Boon; London, 1916.

Short stories, including [a] Winged Blackmail. (Lever,

September 1910) A tricky mode of extortion,

with an element of fantastic aeronautics. An unknown

person who demands cash by carrier pigeon is

trying to extort money from wealthy Peter Wain. At

first Wain does not take the demand seriously, but

arson and other damage to his property soon follow.

* The police and Wain seem helpless, since there is

no way to follow a pigeon. But Peter Wain, Jr., a

designer of experimental aircraft solves the problem.

His new flying machine, which operates by expanding

and contracting the area of airfoil, is fast

and maneuverable. Following the pigeon, he captures

the extortionist. * An idea only; weak as a story,

[b] When the World Was Young. (Saturday Evening

Post, 10 September 1910) Based on a plot summary

that Sinclair Lewis sold to London for $5.00, this

is an obvious source for E. R. Burroughs's Tarzan.

* A burglar prowling around the grounds of wealthy

James Ward's estate sees a naked giant swinging and

leaping through the trees. When, hoping for a reward,

the burglar goes to Ward's office the next day

to tell him about the trespasser, he sees to his astonishment

that the proto-Tarzan had been Ward himself.

It is revealed that the millionaire is in

some inexplicable way atavistic and is controlled by

ancestral memories. The atavism is finally suppressed

when he does battle with a grizzly bear. *

An interesting story.