To Madame Von Platt Stuart the author owes permission to quote the striking adventures of her father, or of her uncle, on the flooded Findhorn. The Lays of the Deer Forest, which contain this tale in the volume of notes, were written by John Sobieski Stuart, and by Charles Edward Stuart, and the editor is uncertain as to which of those gentlemen was the hero of these perilous crossings of the Highland river. Many other good tales, legends, and studies of natural history and of Highland manners may be found in the Lays of the Deer Forest, apart from the curious interest of the poems. On the whole, with certain exceptions, the editor has tried to find true stories rather out of the beaten paths of history; the narrative of John Tanner, for instance, is probably true, but the book in which his adventures were published is now rather difficult to procure. For 'A Boy among the Red Indians,' 'Two Cricket Matches,' 'The Spartan Three Hundred,' 'The Finding of Vineland the Good,' and 'The Escapes of Lord Pitsligo,' the editor is himself responsible, as far as they do not consist of extracts from the original sources. Miss May Kendall translated or adapted Casanova's escape and the piratical and Algerine tales. Mrs. Lang reduced the narrative of the Chevalier Johnstone, and did the escapes of Cæsar Borgia, of Trenck, and Cervantes, while Miss Blackley renders that of Benvenuto Cellini. Mrs. McCunn, as already said, compiled from the sources indicated the Adventures of Prince Charles, and she tells the story of Grace Darling; the contemporary account is, unluckily, rather meagre. Miss Alleyne did 'The Kidnapping of the Princes,' Mrs. Plowden the 'Story of Kaspar Hauser.' Miss Wright reduced the Adventures of Cortés from Prescott, and Mr. Rider Haggard has already been mentioned in connection with Isandhlwana.

Here the editor leaves The True Story Book to the indulgence of children, explaining, once more, that his respect for their judgment is very great, and that he would not dream of imposing lessons on them, in the shape of a Christmas book. No, lessons are one thing, and stories are another. But though fiction is undeniably stranger and more attractive than truth, yet true stories are also rather attractive and strange, now and then. And, after all, we may return once more to Fairyland, after this excursion into the actual workaday world.

CONTENTS

PAGE A Boy among the Red Indians[1] Casanova's Escape[16] Adventures on the Findhorn[29] The Story of Grace Darling[41] The 'Shannon' and the 'Chesapeake'[48] Captain Snelgrave and the Pirates[52] The Spartan Three Hundred[64] Prince Charlie's Wanderings[68] Two Great Matches[105] The Story of Kaspar Hauser[113] An Artist's Adventure[122] The Tale of Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift[132] How Leif the Lucky found Vineland the Good[153] The Escapes of Cervantes[161] The Worthy Enterprise of John Foxe[168] Baron Trenck[176] The Adventure of John Rawlins[186] The Chevalier Johnstone's Escape from Culloden[193] The Adventures of Lord Pitsligo[207] The Escape of Cæsar Borgia from the Castle of Medina del Campo[213] The Kidnapping of the Princes[219] The Conquest of Montezuma's Empire[224] Adventures of Bartholomew Portugues, a Pirate[326] The Return of the French Freebooters[330]
PAGE
A Boy among the Red Indians[1]
Casanova's Escape[16]
Adventures on the Findhorn[29]
The Story of Grace Darling[41]
The 'Shannon' and the 'Chesapeake'[48]
Captain Snelgrave and the Pirates[52]
The Spartan Three Hundred[64]
Prince Charlie's Wanderings[68]
Two Great Matches[105]
The Story of Kaspar Hauser[113]
An Artist's Adventure[122]
The Tale of Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift[132]
How Leif the Lucky found Vineland the Good[153]
The Escapes of Cervantes[161]
The Worthy Enterprise of John Foxe[168]
Baron Trenck[176]
The Adventure of John Rawlins[186]
The Chevalier Johnstone's Escape from Culloden[193]
The Adventures of Lord Pitsligo[207]
The Escape of Cæsar Borgia from the Castle of Medina del Campo[213]
The Kidnapping of the Princes[219]
The Conquest of Montezuma's Empire[224]
Adventures of Bartholomew Portugues, a Pirate[326]
The Return of the French Freebooters[330]

PLATES

Montezuma greets the SpaniardsFrontispiece
The FindhornTo face[36]
Grace Darling"[44]
'Some of the Pirates . . . had thrown several Buckets of Claret upon him'"[60]
The Ball hit the Middle Stump"[108]
He prepared to attack the Sentry"[126]
Montezuma greets the Spaniards"[270]
Cortés in the Temple of Huitzilopochtli"[276]
Montezuma assailed by Missiles"[296]