The New York Tribune, 21 June 1902, Some New Novels

“The Mystery of the Sea” By Bram Stoker, Doubleday, Page & Co.

            The mystery of the sea to which Mr. Bram Stoker compels our attention is one which no reader will put aside undiscovered. The story is not saturated with the weird horror that held us in “Dracula,” but it has enough of the supernatural for due glamour and thrill. A great treasure of the Armada, hidden in a sea cave and sought not only by the hero but by the descendant of the Spaniard who shipped it, provides a starting point of excitement. A gang of ruthless murderers, thieves, and kidnappers in pursuit of the bewitching American heiress who is the heroine furnish forth enough suspense and terror for three ordinary tales. One parlous episode succeeds another; ancient documents, secret passages, rising tides, play significant parts; the lovely girl is always brave  and sweet, the splendid hero always full of resource, though sufficiently careless to allow the scoundrels their necessary innings. Bride and bridegroom, alone in the treasure cave, search the heaps of coin and jewels while the icy tide unheeded surrounds them. Roused at last, they clamber to the highest point, piling up the precious ingots of the Armada to lift them a little further beyond the line of death. The air becomes less and less fresh--the light must be sacrificed.

             And now in the darkness the terror of the rising flood grew worse and worse. The chill water crept up and up and up; till at last it was only by raising her head that Marjory could breathe. I leaned back against the rock, and bending my knees outward lifted her so that she rested her feet against my knees. Up and up rose the chill water till it reached my chin, and I feared the last moments had come. There was one more chance for Marjory; and though it cut me to the soul to speak it, for I knew that it would tear at her very heartstrings, I had to try it.

    “Marjory, my wife, the end is close! I fear we may not both live. In a few moments more at most the water will be over my mouth. When the time comes I shall sink over the pile of treasure on which we rest. You must then stand on me; it will raise you sufficiently to let you hold out longer.” A dreadful groan broke from her.

Out of this unpleasant situation dawns a way of escape, else what would become of that other moment of breathless agony when hero, heroine and stately Spanish don fight through an enveloping fog a whole deck load of base kidnappers? Was there an escape from this danger also? We counsel the reader to seek an answer in an uncommonly spirited and entertaining book.