ADVENTURE UNLIMITED
First Published in January 1957 - 120 pages
Our
four heroes from Adventure
Bound, namely Batty, Digger,
Pompey and Tommy, have a reunion meal at a London restaurant. Digger finds out
that the rest are doing nothing since their last trip and suggest they pool
money into a common fund and form a company. Digger suggests the name
'Adventure Limited' but Tommy tops that by suggesting 'Adventure Unlimited'.
Digger tells everyone about the time in British Honduras he found a dying man
in a canoe who claimed to have found gold and had some gold dust and nuggets on
him to prove it. Everyone agrees to ship out on a banana boat to Jamaica and
from there seek passage to British Honduras in search of gold. Taking with them
a local native named Sunshine Bright (nicknamed "Sunny"), they buy a
boat named the Sprite and travel up river into the Honduras jungle. Here
they cross swords with two other gold hunters named Pedro and Louis and their
native bearers. A Mexican official patrolling the border tells our heroes that
he is looking for the other party for stealing. Finding the tributary of the
river they were seeking our heroes locate the place where Digger had buried the
unfortunate gold hunter, whose name was Harwin. The
following day, Tommy climbs the jungle lianas and discovers wonderful flowers
forming a garden in the treetops. Proceeding up river, some falls are located,
which were a landmark mentioned by Harwin before he
died. An old overgrown path up and over the falls is discovered that leads to a
plateau. Here some basic gold panning finds traces of gold and a tiny nugget.
Proceeding up river further, in the hope of locating the source of the gold,
our heroes proceed through a tunnel but are finally frustrated when they reach
rapids up which they cannot proceed further. Native Indians visit and are
fascinated by Pompey's tattoos. Pedro and Louis arrive with their party and demand
food. They give alcohol to the Indians and trouble looms. The Mexican official
arrives with soldiers and says that both parties have crossed the border, a
mistake easy to make when there are no clear boundaries. Pedro tries to shoot
the Mexican official to avoid arrest but Pompey deflects the shot and punches
the man to the ground (an event depicted on the cover of the book). Pedro and
Louis are arrested. Our heroes declare the gold they have found and are allowed
to leave with it due to their honesty and assistance. The gold is nowhere near
enough to pay for the trip but seeds from the tree garden Tommy discovered can
be sold at home and this will enable them to turn a profit. The journey home is
commenced.
(The prequel to this story was called Adventure Bound)
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Adventure Unlimited
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - originally published Thomas Nelson and Sons
Limited
First Edition
Frontispiece
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The boards of this book and the prequel
Paperback reprint