Louis L'Amour is, of course, most famous for the many, many excellent Westerns he wrote. But he did write in other genres. For instance, early in his career, he wrote a series of stories set in the South Seas, with his own experiences as a merchant seaman giving those tales authenticity.
The protagonist in these stories is a "Ponga Jim" Mayo, who is the master of a tramp steamer and who has a penchant for finding trouble. One of Ponga Jim's adventures is recounted in the October 1940 issue of Thrilling Adventures.
"On the Road to Amurang" has Ponga Jim taking his ship, the Semiramis, on a cargo run to several islands. But World War 2 is raging in Europe and one side effect of that is to make the British and Dutch-controlled islands in the Pacific a dangerous place to be.
Jim finds that out when his ship is hijacked by gunmen led by a big guy (and I mean a BIG guy) named Job Dussel. Jim knows that he, his ship and his crew are doomed unless he does something fast.
He sees a chance to make a break for it and then finds an unexpected place to hide while Dussell's men are looking for him. When he has a chance, Jim jumps a guard, gets a gun and frees a few of his crew.
From there, the action picks up to a lightning pace. Dussell and his surviving men are forced to steal a lifeboat and leave the ship, but a (persumably German) cruiser is nearby to pick them up. Jim has a gun mounted on the Semiramis, but can't outduel the bigger vessel. But Jim knows the waters here better than anyone and he might still have one last trick up his sleeve.
Besides, he doesn't want to miss a chance to find out if he can take Dussell in a fist fight.
"On the Road to Amurang" is a great example of how much fun the Ponga Jim stories are. It's short, but packed with captures, escapes, gun battles, ship-to-ship combat and a brutal fist fight at the climax. You can read it online HERE.
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