ADVENTURE BOUND
First Published in April 1955 - 118 pages
The
adventure begins with three people in a lifeboat after their ship has hit a mine.
Firstly there is Pompey, the tattooed stoker. Secondly, there is
"Digger" Jim Driscoll, an Australian. Finally there is 16 year old
"Tommy" Tucker whose real name is Jack but he is always known as
Tommy. They don't know each other, but soon get to know each other during the
adventure that follows. Their lifeboat is hit by a 'pampero', a storm, and they
are cast up along the coast at the top of South America. Surviving this, our
heroes meet the straggling remnants of a rebel army. The army is led by Don
Enrique Avenida who has led a failed coup in the (fictitious) South American
country of Rioguiana. Pompey, Digger and Tommy are all "pressed" into
joining under threat of death and here they meet Joe Batson, nicknamed
"Batty". Batty has a story to tell. Whilst stationed in Germany on
National Service he was billeted with an old German lady whose husband and son
had both died during the war. Her son had been a sailor on a German light
cruiser called the Ronstadt and before it was sunk off the coast of South
America it had hidden a load of gold. Her son had been one of the survivors and
had left a map showing the location of the gold with his mother before later
dying during the war. The map was of no use to the old lady and she gave it to
Batty. He had travelled to Rioguiana in search of the hidden fortune and he too
had been forced to join the rebel army. The stragglers of the army are camped
on a plateau when they are attacked by Government troops and effectively wiped
out. Our heroes, now four in number with the addition of Batty, manage to
escape into the jungle and later find an old canoe made from a hollowed out
tree trunk. In this, they escape down river from the hunting Government
soldiers. Helped by the wife of a rubber collector, they manage to make their
way down to the town of Sanquitos where they have the chance of resting,
recovering and selling some possessions to raise money to go and look for the
gold. Before they set off, a party of four Germans arrive, including a man
named Dostler, another survivor of the ill-fated crew of the Ronstadt.
Suspecting that Dostler's party is also looking for the gold our four heroes
buy a canoe and arrange a tow up river on the back of a steamer. The gold is
hidden at a beach at a bend in the river. Casting off at an appropriate point
this beach is soon located. Working only when nobody is in sight and at speed,
the gold is eventually located and removed into the jungle. They are only just
in time as Dostler and his party arrive to look for the gold. They are devastated
to find that it has already gone. A Government boat arrives which was on the
lookout for four Europeans and the Germans are arrested and taken away. Digger
buys a balsa raft from local Indians and the four white men stain their skin
darker so they can pass for natives with the raft. The gold is loaded and taken
down river to the port of La Garta. Here, Pompey locates an old colleague by
the name of Jock Anderson who is skipper of a British merchant ship called the Dorado.
A deal is done whereby Jock is given a bar of gold for both him and the owners
in exchange for passage back to England. The Dorado is chased by a
Government boat but Jock knows the waters well and tricks the Government boat
into running aground. Back in England the gold is declared and deposited with
the Bank of England. The value of the gold is paid to our heroes, which Batty
insists should be shared equally between the four of them.
(A sequel to this story would follow called Adventure Unlimited)
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Adventure Bound
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - originally published Thomas Nelson and Sons
Limited
First Edition
The cover of the French version of the book – L’Aventure Sans
Frontiere - (“The Adventure Without Borders”)
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
The boards of this book and the sequel
Paperback reprint
This different paperback has 118 pages and says “Printed in Great
Britain by Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, Edinburgh” but there is no date of
publication