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)
Adventure Bound
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - originally published Thomas Nelson and Sons
Limited
First Edition
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