Thursday, May 29, 2025

The Last Adventure

 

cover art by A.L. Ripley

Read/Watch 'em In Order #181


We come to the last work of prose fiction in the January 10, 1926 issue of Adventure. This one is a novella titled "He Shall Have Best Who Can Keep," by Gordon MacCreath.





And it's a good one. I have a fondness for stories narrated in the first person as if being told the tale in a bar or club. In this case, an Amazon riverman named Theophile Da Costa is describing his recent adventures to the man to whom he's selling a cargo of ivory nuts. 


And it was quite an adventure. Theophile and his partner--a red-headed American nick-named Peloroxo--had a shipment of nuts hijacked along with the small steam-powered riverboat they were using to bring the nuts downriver. As they begin a chase that takes them many miles upriver, they are joined by Peloroxo's father. The dad wants to bring his son home to join the family business. But as the days-long pursuit continues, the father begins to appreciate his son's courage, intelligence and business acumen.


The good guys have friends among the Indians along the river, so soon have quite a few allies. The thieves, though outnumbered, have fortified the riverboat with firewood and manage to give their pursuers a slip on several occasions. The story maintains suspense, has several good action scenes and keeps events moving along at a brisk pace. And Theophile's casual narration adds enormously to the charm of the tale. I don't go to bars in real life, but I love a well-told bar story.


You can read the story yourself HERE.

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