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
Another Paperback