In the novel Captain at fifteen", the summary of which you are now reading, events begin to unfold from the moment the schooner Pilgrim sets sail from New Zealand in 1873. It is equipped with everything necessary for whaling.

The experienced captain Gul manages everything, with him are five experienced and experienced sailors and a 15-year-old junior sailor named Dick Send. He is an orphan. On the ship is also cook Negoro and the wife of the owner of the ship, Mrs. Weldon, with a five-year-old boy, Jack. This company is complemented by her funny cousin, whom everyone around calls only cousin Benedict, and, finally, the old nanny Nan.

Captain Gul's sailboat sails to America. The first trouble occurs a few days after the start of the journey. Jack notices the ship capsized on its side. He has a hole in his nose. The crew of the Pilgrim rescue five starving blacks and a dog named Dingo.

From the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" (reading the summary faster than the whole work), we learn that their names are Tom, Bat, Austin, Hercules and Actaeon. They are all free citizens of the United States. They say that they were returning from New Zealand, where they worked under a contract, to America. Their ship "Waldeck" collided with another ship, after which the captains and all the crew members disappeared, leaving them alone. They continue their journey together with the heroes of the novel, after a while they look completely healthy and recovered.

whale fishing

In the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain", a summary of which helps to quickly recall the plot, the mysterious events do not stop there. Dingo dog is suspicious. Passengers on the Waldeck say their captain picked up the dog in Africa. He constantly growls ferociously, as soon as he meets the cook Negoro. He seems to recognize him, constantly expressing a willingness to lash out at the first opportunity. Negoro tries not to catch the dog's eye at all.

The only one who has an idea of how to control the ship is, in fact, cabin boy Dick Send. He becomes a fifteen-year-old captain. A summary of the chapters of this novel helps to better understand the author's intention.

Inexperienced Captain

Dick patiently teaches the negroes the sailor trade. He is a courageous and internally mature guy, but he still lacks knowledge of navigation, the ability to navigate in open ocean only by compass and a device that measures the speed of the vessel.

In addition, he does not know how to determine the location by the stars, which is immediately used by the insidious Negoro. Kok breaks one of the compasses and unnoticed by the others changes the readings on the second one. After that, he disables the lot. All this leads to the fact that the ship, instead of sailing to America, ends up near the coast of Angola. The ship is thrown aground.

Travelers in Africa

In the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" (a brief summary allows you to get acquainted with the main points of the work), Negoro manages to slip away unnoticed from the ship. Only he alone knows for sure where they sailed.

Dick on a quest local residents, collides with the American Harris. He is in collusion with the cook, so he assures our heroes that they actually sailed to Bolivia. Promising them shelter and a roof over their heads, he lures them into the depths of the mainland for about a hundred kilometers. Only after some time Dick and Tom realize that somehow they still ended up in Africa, and not in South America. Harris, realizing that they have discovered him, immediately hides in the forest and goes to meet with Negoro.

Only at this point for the readers of Verne's "Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" (a brief summary will not replace the work itself) something begins to clear up. Harris is actually a slave trader, Negoro used to be involved in the underground business too. It all ended when the authorities of his native Portugal sentenced the cook to life imprisonment. He managed to escape after two weeks, and soon he was accepted to the Pilgrim. After that, he immediately began to look for the moment to be back in Africa.

The death of the captain and the inexperience of Dick Sand played into his hands. There is now a slave caravan nearby heading for Kazonde.

Betrayal

As soon as Harris goes missing, Dick realizes that they have been betrayed. He decides to go along the stream until he comes to a large river. Assuming such a plan, Harris and Negoro are waiting for them along the way, who expect to catch the travelers by surprise.

But until they meet the villains, the heroes of the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" by Jules Verne, the summary of which we are now considering, will have to experience the forces of nature. Rain and thunderstorms hit them. The river overflows its banks, rising several feet above the ground.

Travelers are trying to wait out the elements in an empty termite mound with thick clay walls. But, having got out of there, they are immediately captured. Dick, Nan, and the Negroes are sent along with the caravan. Only the resourceful Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon, along with her relative, is taken away in an unknown direction.

The path in the caravan

By joining the caravan, Dick and his comrades will endure terrible hardships. They become witnesses of the brutal treatment of slaves. Old Nan, unable to endure suffering, dies.

In Kazonda, the slaves are distributed among the barracks. Harris informs Dick that Mrs. Weldon and her son have died. But it was again a hoax. Sand, not yet aware of this, in desperation snatches the dagger from him and kills the slave trader.

Slave Fair

One of the climaxes of the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" (summary for reader's diary can be found in this article) - slave fair. After it, Dick's execution should take place. Negoro had already agreed on this with influential people in Kazonda, who saw the scene of the murder of his American comrade and now reasonably fears for his own safety.

The owner of the slave caravan named Alvets promises fire water to the local king Muani-Lung in case of a successful execution. He willingly agrees, because for a long time he cannot do without alcohol. It turns out that this was a sophisticated execution for Muani-Lungu himself. Alvets gives him too strong a punch. When the leader begins to drink, he sets fire to the drink. The body of the tsar, thoroughly intoxicated, catches fire, and he decays to the very bones.

His wife Queen Muana arranges a magnificent funeral. During the ceremony, according to tradition, all the other wives of the king are killed so that they follow him to the afterlife. They are dumped into a pit and filled with water. In the same pit is Dick, who was previously tied to a pole.

Hostages from the Pilgrim

At the same time, Mrs. Weldon, together with her son and cousin, live in Kazonda near Alvets. They were held hostage, Negoro expects to receive a solid ransom from the owner of the ship.

At his insistence, Mrs. Weldon writes a letter to her husband, with whom Negoro goes to San Francisco. Meanwhile, the hostages live more or less freely. Cousin Benedict, who has always been fond of collecting insects, is somehow pursuing a particularly rare ground beetle. In this pursuit, he accidentally falls into a mole hole and is free. At first, without noticing this, he runs for another two miles through the forest in the hope of overtaking an insect. At the end of his journey, Benedict meets Hercules, who has been nearby all this time, hoping to somehow help his friends.

Downpour in the village

Rare and anomalous events often occur in The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain. Another - atypically heavy and prolonged rain that floods the fields and threatens to destroy the entire crop.

Queen Muan calls the sorcerers for help. Hercules catches one of these elders in the forest. Taking his clothes, he pretends to be a mute shaman driving away the clouds. He takes the queen by the hand and insistently leads her to the Alvets estate. With signs, he indicates that a white woman and a little boy must answer for all the troubles of her people. So he helps them free themselves from the village. Alvets tries to resist this, but retreats before the onslaught of savages.

Only after walking eight miles through the jungle and freeing himself from his escorts, Hercules reveals himself to Mrs. Weldon and her son. Here they also meet Dick, who was also saved by Hercules, as well as Benedict and the dog Dingo. In conclusion, only negroes remain, who have already been sold and stolen from the village.

Path to the ocean

The heroes of the Fifteen-Year-Old Captain, a summary of which in a few minutes will remind you of the main ups and downs of the novel, are making another attempt to get to the ocean. On their boat, they go down the river.

Soon they meet a village of cannibals. But thanks to the fact that their boat was disguised as a floating island, they manage to swim past.

During the next stop, Dingo, having barely found himself on the shore, rushes forward, smelling someone's footprint. He leads them to a hut in which are scattered human bones. There are two bloody letters on the wall - "S. V." The same letters are engraved on the dog's collar. There is also a note in the shack, from which the travelers learn that Samuel Vernon suffered at the hands of Negoro, who was his guide. The insidious villain mortally wounded him and robbed him.

At the same moment, Dingo breaks off and clings to the throat of Negoro, who has crept up. Before sailing to America, he decided to return to the scene of the crime in order to collect the money stolen from Vernon from the cache. Negoro wounds the dog with a knife, he dies, unable to avenge the owner. But Negoro still fails to get away from a fair punishment.

Encounter with the savages

But this is not all the tests for the characters of the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain". AT summary it is necessary to mention the episode of the meeting with cannibals.

Having dealt with Negoro, Dick decides to cross to the right bank, fearing the cook's comrades from the Pilgrim. But there he is attacked by cannibals whom they met a few days ago and were not aware that they were being pursued by land. They noticed a boat with people, but at the very last moment, when it was already far away.

A hail of arrows falls on Dick, the savages jump right into his boat. It is rapidly carried to the waterfall. All the savages perish, but only the 15-year-old captain is saved by hiding in a boat.

Finally, the travelers reach the ocean. They manage to board a ship and sail to California. Dick is accepted as a son into the Weldon family. At the age of 18, he completes courses and becomes a captain on one of Weldon's schooners.

Both Hercules and the Negroes, who manage to be ransomed from slavery and freed, remain a friend of the family. The novel ends with the date November 15, 1877. It was then that four Negroes, who had endured so many dangers, finally find themselves in the friendly arms of the Weldons.

Jules Verne

"Captain at fifteen"

On January 29, 1873, the schooner brig Pilgrim, equipped for whaling, sets sail from the port of Oakland, New Zealand. On board are the brave and experienced Captain Gul, five experienced sailors, a fifteen-year-old junior sailor - the orphan Dick Send, the ship's cook Negoro, as well as the wife of the owner of the Pilgrim, James Weldon, Mrs. Weldon with her five-year-old son Jack, her eccentric relative, whom everyone calls " cousin Benedict," and the old Negro nurse Nan. The sailboat is on its way to San Francisco with a stop at Valparaiso. After a few days of sailing, little Jack notices the Waldeck ship capsized on its side in the ocean with a hole in the bow. In it, the sailors discover five emaciated blacks and a dog named Dingo. It turns out that the Negroes: Tom, a sixty-year-old man, his son Bat, Austin, Actaeon and Hercules are free citizens of the United States. Having completed work on a plantation contract in New Zealand, they returned to America. After the Waldeck collided with another ship, all the crew members and the captain disappeared and they were left alone. They are transferred aboard the Pilgrim, and after a few days of careful care, they are fully restored to their strength. Dingo, according to them, the captain of the Waldeck picked up off the coast of Africa. At the sight of Negoro, the dog, for some unknown reason, begins to growl ferociously and expresses its readiness to pounce on him. Negoro prefers not to show himself to the dog, which, apparently, recognized him.

A few days later, Captain Gul and five sailors, who dared to set off on a boat to catch a whale, which they saw a few miles from the ship, die. Dick Send, who remained on the ship, takes over as captain. Negroes are trying under his leadership to learn the sailor's craft. With all his courage and inner maturity, Dick does not have all the navigational knowledge and can only navigate the ocean using a compass and a lot that measures the speed of movement. He does not know how to find a location by the stars, which is what Negoro uses. He breaks one compass and imperceptibly changes the indications of the second one. Then disables the lot. His intrigues contribute to the fact that instead of America, the ship arrives on the shores of Angola and is thrown ashore. All travelers are safe. Negoro quietly leaves them and leaves in an unknown direction. After some time, Dick Sand, who went in search of some settlement, meets the American Harris, who, being in collusion with Negoro, his old acquaintance, and assuring that the travelers are on the shores of Bolivia, lures them a hundred miles into the rainforest, promising shelter and leaving on the hacienda of his brother. Over time, Dick Send and Tom realize that they somehow ended up not in South America, but in Africa. Harris, having guessed about their insight, hides in the forest, leaving the travelers alone, and goes to a pre-arranged meeting with Negoro. From their conversation, it becomes clear to the reader that Harris is engaged in the slave trade, Negoro was also familiar with this trade for a long time, until the authorities of Portugal, where he comes from, sentenced him to life imprisonment for such activities. After staying on it for two weeks, Negoro escaped, got a job as a cook on the Pilgrim and began to wait for the right opportunity to get back to Africa. Dick's inexperience played into his hands, and his plan was carried out much sooner than he dared hope. Not far from the place where he meets Harris, there is a caravan of slaves, which goes to Kazonda to the fair, led by one of their acquaintances. The caravan is encamped ten miles from the whereabouts of the travelers, on the banks of the Kwanza River. Knowing Dick Send, Negoro and Harris correctly assume that he will decide to take his people to the river and go down to the ocean on a raft. That's where they intend to capture them. Having discovered the disappearance of Harris, Dick understands that a betrayal has occurred, and decides to walk along the bank of the stream to more major river. On the way, they are overtaken by a thunderstorm and a fierce downpour, from which the river overflows its banks and rises several pounds above ground level. Before the rain, travelers climb into an empty termite mound, twelve feet high. In a huge anthill with thick clay walls, they wait out a thunderstorm. However, having got out of there, they are immediately captured. Blacks, Nan and Dick are attached to the caravan, Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict are taken away in an unspecified direction. During the journey, Dick and his friends, the Negroes, have to endure all the hardships of crossing with a caravan of slaves and witness the brutal treatment of guards and overseers with slaves. Unable to withstand this transition, old Nan perishes along the way.

The caravan arrives at Kazonda, where the slaves are distributed among the barracks. Dick Send accidentally meets Harris and, after Harris, deceiving him, reports the death of Mrs. Weldon and her son, in desperation snatches a dagger from his belt and kills him. The slave fair is to take place the next day. Negoro, who saw from afar the scene of the death of his friend, asks permission from Alvets, the owner of the caravan of slaves and a very influential person in Kazonda, as well as from Muani-Lung, the local king, permission to execute Dick after the fair. Alvets promises Muani-Lung, unable to do without alcohol for a long time, a drop of fiery water for every drop of blood white man. He prepares a strong punch, sets it on fire, and when Muani-Lung drinks it, his thoroughly alcoholized body suddenly catches fire and the king rots to the very bones. His first wife, Queen Muan, arranges a funeral, during which, according to tradition, numerous other wives of the king are killed, thrown into a pit and flooded. In the same pit there is also Dick tied to a post. He must die.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Weldon and her son and cousin Benedict also live in Kazonda outside the fence of the trading post of Alvets. Negoro holds them hostage there and wants a ransom of one hundred thousand dollars from Mr. Weldon. He forces Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her husband, which should contribute to the implementation of his plan, and, leaving the hostages in the care of Alvets, departs for San Francisco. One day, Cousin Benedict, an avid insect collector, is chasing a particularly rare ground beetle. Pursuing her, he imperceptibly for himself through the mole-hole, passing under the walls of the fence, breaks free and runs two miles through the forest in the hope of still grabbing the insect. There he meets Hercules, who has been next to the caravan all this time in the hope of helping his friends in some way.

At this time, a long downpour, unusual for this time of year, begins in the village, which floods all nearby fields and threatens to leave the inhabitants without a crop. Queen Muan invites sorcerers to the village so that they drive away the clouds. Hercules, having caught one of these sorcerers in the forest and disguised himself in his outfit, pretends to be a mute sorcerer and comes to the village, grabs the astonished queen by the hand and leads her to the trading post of Alvets. There he shows with signs that the white woman and her are to blame for the troubles of her people. child. He grabs them and takes them out of the village. Alvets tries to detain him, but succumbs to the onslaught of savages and is forced to release the hostages. After walking eight miles and finally freeing himself from the last curious villagers, Hercules lowers Mrs. Weldon and Jack into the boat, where they discover with amazement that the sorcerer and Hercules are the same person, they see Dick Send, saved by Hercules from death, cousin Benedict and Dingo. Only Tom, Bat, Actaeon and Austin are missing, who were sold into slavery and stolen from the village even earlier. Now travelers finally have the opportunity to go down to the ocean on a boat disguised as a floating island. From time to time Dick comes ashore to hunt. After a few days of travel, the boat sails past the village of cannibals, located on the right bank. The fact that it is not an island that floats along the river, but a boat with people, the savages discover after it is already far ahead. Unnoticed by travelers, savages along the shore pursue the boat in the hope of prey. A few days later, the boat stops at the left bank, so as not to be drawn into the waterfall. Dingo, barely jumping ashore, rushes forward, as if smelling someone's footprint. Travelers stumble upon a small shack in which already whitened human bones are scattered. Nearby on a tree, two letters “S. AT.". These are the same letters that are engraved on the Dingo's collar. Nearby is a note in which its author, the traveler Samuel Vernon, accuses his guide Negoro of mortally wounding him in December 1871 and robbing him. Suddenly, Dingo takes off, and a scream is heard nearby. It was Dingo who grabbed the throat of Negoro, who, before boarding the steamer to America, returned to the scene of his crime in order to get from the hiding place the money he had stolen from Vernon. Dingo, whom Negoro stabs with a knife before dying, dies. But Negoro himself cannot escape retribution. Fearing on the left bank of Negoro's satellites, Dick is sent for reconnaissance to the right bank. There, arrows fly at him, and ten savages from the village of cannibals jump into his boat. Dick shoots through the oar, and the boat is carried to the waterfall. The savages die in it, but Dick, hiding in a boat, manages to escape. Soon the travelers reach the ocean, and then without incident on August 25 they arrive in California. Dick Send becomes a son in the Weldon family, by the age of eighteen he completes hydrographic courses and is preparing to become a captain on one of James Weldon's ships. Hercules becomes a great family friend. Mr. Weldon ransoms Tom, Bat, Actaeon, and Austin from slavery, and on November 15, 1877, four Negroes, freed from so many dangers, find themselves in the friendly embrace of the Weldons.

On January 29, 1873, the schooner Pilgrim set sail from New Zealand's Oceanand under the leadership of Captain Gul. His team includes 5 experienced sailors, 1 junior sailor Dick Send, cook Negoro. The owner's wife, Mrs. Weldon, and 5-year-old son Jack, his cousin Benedict and nanny Nan were on the ship, who were sailing to San Francisco. A few days later they see a wrecked ship and rescue 5 blacks and a Dingo dog. African Americans turn out to be free US citizens who were returning to their homeland after working in New Zealand, but they were rammed by another ship. Dingo, seeing Negoro, began to react aggressively to him. Rescued said that the dog was found off the coast of Africa.

Noticing a whale not far from the ship, Captain Gul and the sailors swim to catch and die. The functions of the ship's captain are taken over by 15-year-old Dick Send. Negroes learn sailor business. But the young man is poorly versed in navigation, having only the skills of orienting by compass and lot. Kok Negoro does everything to make the ship go astray. The ship is washed ashore in Angola. But the young captain does not know how to understand the starry sky and does not know where they are. Meanwhile, the cook disappears in an unknown direction. Exploring the territory, Dick meets Harris, who convinces him that the travelers have ended up in Bolivia, and invites him to his brother's house. But the young man did not know that the new acquaintance is a friend of Negoro and a slave trader and lures them far into the forest. After some time, Dick and Tom guessed about their presence in Africa, but by that time Harris had already abandoned them in the tropics, heading to meet Negoro.

It turns out that the cook in the past also trafficked in people and for this he was sent to life hard labor by the Portuguese authorities, but two weeks later he escaped from custody and was looking for an opportunity to return to Africa. Their mutual acquaintance, a slave trader not far from the meeting point, led a caravan of people to the fair in Kazonda and was supposed to stop at the Kwanza River. The attackers hoped that Dick and his people would float down the river and be captured. At this time, the 15-year-old captain is moving along the stream to go to a deep channel, but a thunderstorm catches the travelers. To protect themselves from the overflowing river, they hide in a huge anthill, and after a thunderstorm they are captured. One of the blacks, Hercules, manages to escape, and the fate of the wife and son of the owner of the ship remains unknown. Enslaved people are in difficult conditions, they overcome many difficulties along the way, the nanny Nan cannot stand it and dies.

In Kazonda, Harris informs Dick about the death of Mrs. Weldon and Jack, for which the 15-year-old youth kills the villain. Seeing the death of his friend, Negoro asks for Dick's execution from local influential people. But Hercules saves the young man from death. Meanwhile, the ship's owner's family is being held hostage by Negoro, who hopes to ransom them. Cousin Benedict accidentally finds a way out of captivity and meets the escaped Hercules, who disguises himself as a sorcerer and convinces Queen Muanu to give him a white woman and child, because they bring disaster to the tribe. They disguise the boat as an island and float down the river. On the way, the Dingo dog shows them the place of his master's death and kills Negoro, who came to collect the stolen money. The travelers manage to get to California, where Mr. Weldon adopted Dick and made him the captain of one of his ships.

Captain at fifteen

On January 29, 1873, the schooner-brig "Pilgrim", equipped for whaling, sets sail from the port of Oakland, New Zealand. On board are the brave and experienced Captain Gul, five experienced sailors, a fifteen-year-old junior sailor - orphan Dick Send, the ship's cook Negoro, as well as the wife of the owner of the Pilgrim, James Weldon, Mrs. Weldon with her five-year-old son Jack, her eccentric relative, whom everyone calls " cousin Benedict," and the dark-skinned old nanny Noon. The sailboat is on its way to San Francisco with a stop at Valparaiso. After a few days of sailing, little Jack notices in the ocean the Waldeck ship capsized on its side with a hole in the bow. In it, the sailors discover five emaciated blacks and a dog named Dingo. It turns out that the blacks: Tom, a sixty-year-old man, his son Bat, Austin, Actaeon and Hercules are free citizens of the United States. Having completed work on a plantation contract in New Zealand, they returned to America. After the Waldeck collided with another ship, all crew members and the captain disappeared and they were left alone. They are transferred aboard the Pilgrim, and after a few days of careful care, they are fully restored to their strength. Dingo, according to them, the captain of the "Waldeck" picked up off the coast of Africa. At the sight of Negoro, the dog, for some unknown reason, begins to growl ferociously and expresses its readiness to pounce on him. Negoro prefers not to show himself to the dog, which, apparently, recognized him.

A few days later, Captain Gul and five sailors, who dared to set off on a boat to catch a whale, which they saw a few miles from the ship, die. Dick Send, who remained on the ship, takes over as captain. Blacks are trying under his guidance to learn the sailor craft. With all his courage and inner maturity, Dick does not have all the navigational knowledge and knows how to navigate the ocean only by a compass and a lot that measures the speed of movement. He does not know how to find a location by the stars, which is what Negoro uses. He breaks one compass and imperceptibly changes the indications of the second one. Then disables the lot. His intrigues contribute to the fact that instead of America, the ship arrives on the shores of Angola and is thrown ashore. All travelers are safe. Negoro quietly leaves them and leaves in an unknown direction. After some time, Dick Sand, who went in search of some settlement, meets the American Harris, who, being in collusion with Negoro, his old acquaintance, and assuring that the travelers are on the shores of Bolivia, lures them a hundred miles into the rainforest, promising shelter and leaving on the hacienda of his brother. Over time, Dick Send and Tom realize that they somehow ended up not in South America, but in Africa. Harris, guessing about their insight, hides in the forest, leaving the travelers alone, and goes to a pre-arranged meeting with Negoro. From their conversation, it becomes clear to the reader that Harris is engaged in the slave trade, Negoro was also familiar with this trade for a long time, until the authorities of Portugal, where he comes from, sentenced him to life imprisonment for such activities. After staying on it for two weeks, Negoro escaped, got a job as a cook on the Pilgrim and began to wait for the right opportunity to get back to Africa. Dick's inexperience played into his hands, and his plan was carried out much sooner than he dared hope. Not far from the place where he meets Harris, there is a caravan of slaves, which goes to Kazonda to the fair, led by one of their acquaintances. The caravan is encamped ten miles from the whereabouts of the travelers, on the banks of the Kwanza River. Knowing Dick Send, Negoro and Harris correctly assume that he will decide to take his people to the river and go down to the ocean on a raft. That's where they intend to capture them. Having discovered the disappearance of Harris, Dick realizes that a betrayal has taken place, and decides to walk along the bank of the stream to a larger river. On the way, they are overtaken by a thunderstorm and a fierce downpour, from which the river overflows its banks and rises several pounds above ground level. Before the rain, travelers climb into an empty termite mound, twelve feet high. In a huge anthill with thick clay walls, they wait out a thunderstorm. However, having got out of there, they are immediately captured. The blacks, Nun and Dick are attached to the caravan, Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict are led away in an unspecified direction. During the journey, Dick and his friends have to endure all the hardships of the passage with a caravan of slaves and witness the brutal treatment of guards and overseers with slaves. Unable to withstand this transition, old Nun dies along the way.

The caravan arrives at Kazonda, where the slaves are distributed among the barracks. Dick Send accidentally meets Harris and, after Harris, deceiving him, reports the death of Mrs. Weldon and her son, in desperation snatches a dagger from his belt and kills him. The slave fair is to take place the next day. Negoro, who saw from afar the scene of the death of his friend, asks permission from Alvets, the owner of the caravan of slaves and a very influential person in Kazonda, as well as from Muani-Lung, the local king, permission to execute Dick after the fair. Alvets promises Muani-Lung, unable to do without alcohol for a long time, a drop of fiery water for every drop of white man's blood. He prepares a strong punch, sets it on fire, and when Muani-Lung drinks it, his thoroughly alcoholized body suddenly catches fire and the king rots to the very bones. His first wife, Queen Muan, arranges a funeral, during which, according to tradition, numerous other wives of the king are killed, thrown into a pit and flooded. In the same pit there is also Dick tied to a post. He must die.

At this time, a long downpour, unusual for this time of year, begins in the village, which floods all nearby fields and threatens to leave the inhabitants without a crop. Queen Muan invites sorcerers to the village so that they drive away the clouds. Hercules, having caught one of these sorcerers in the forest and disguised himself in his outfit, pretends to be a mute sorcerer and comes to the village, grabs the astonished queen by the hand and leads her to the Alvets trading post. There he shows by signs that a white woman and her are to blame for the troubles of her people. child. He grabs them and takes them out of the village. Alvets tries to detain him, but succumbs to the onslaught of savages and is forced to release the hostages. After walking eight miles and finally freeing himself from the last curious villagers, Hercules lowers Mrs. Weldon and Jack into the boat, where they discover with amazement that the sorcerer and Hercules are the same person, they see Dick Send, saved by Hercules from death, cousin Benedict and Dingo. Only Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin are missing, who were sold into slavery and stolen from the village even earlier. Now travelers finally have the opportunity to go down to the ocean on a boat disguised as a floating island. From time to time Dick comes ashore to hunt. After a few days of travel, the boat sails past the village of cannibals, located on the right bank. The fact that it is not an island that floats along the river, but a boat with people, the savages discover after it is already far ahead. Unnoticed by travelers, savages along the shore pursue the boat in the hope of prey. A few days later, the boat stops at the left bank, so as not to be drawn into the waterfall. Dingo, barely jumping ashore, rushes forward, as if smelling someone's footprint. Travelers stumble upon a small shack in which already whitened human bones are scattered. Nearby, two letters "S. V." are drawn in blood on a tree. These are the same letters that are engraved on the Dingo's collar. Nearby is a note in which its author, the traveler Samuel Vernoy, accuses his guide Negoro of mortally wounding him in December 1871 and robbing him. Suddenly, Dingo takes off, and a scream is heard nearby. It was Dingo who grabbed the throat of Negoro, who, before boarding the steamer to America, returned to the scene of his crime in order to get from the hiding place the money he had stolen from Vernon. Dingo, whom Negoro stabs with a knife before dying, dies. But Negoro himself cannot escape retribution. Fearing on the left bank of Negoro's satellites, Dick is sent for reconnaissance to the right bank. There, arrows fly at him, and ten savages from the village of cannibals jump into his boat. Dick shoots through the oar, and the boat is carried to the waterfall. The savages die in it, but Dick, who has taken cover in a boat, manages to escape. Soon the travelers reach the ocean, and then without incident on August 25 they arrive in California. Dick Send becomes a son in the Weldon family, by the age of eighteen he completes hydrographic courses and is preparing to become a captain on one of James Weldon's ships. Hercules becomes a great family friend. Mr. Weldon ransoms Tom, Bat, Actaeon, and Austin from slavery, and on November 15, 1877, four dark-skinned men who have escaped so many dangers find themselves in the friendly embrace of the Weldons.

Schooner "Pilgrim" hunts whales. But there are also passengers on the schooner: this is the wife of the owner of the Pilgrim with her five-year-old son Jack. They are sailing to America to see Mr. Weldon, her husband and father, there. Cousin Benedict is with them - he is only interested in entomology (the science of insects).

Travelers met an abandoned ship in the sea, where there were living creatures: a Dingo dog and five blacks. The huge Negro Hercules became a good friend to everyone, especially to little Jack.

While hunting for a whale, a boat with a captain and crew perishes. Young Dick Sand takes over the ship. A smart guy would have done it, but Negoro's forensic cook messed up the compass. This cook is very suspicious. Here is the dog, who made friends with everyone, growls and barks at Negoro.

Finally we got to the shore. Travelers think they are in South America. Negoro says that he is familiar with this continent. If they get to any city, contact Mr. Weldon, and he will save everyone. And strange things happen. The vegetation is not American, little Jack cannot see the promised hummingbird, Cousin Benedict rejoices that he saw an African insect in America. Suddenly everyone saw giraffes - but there are no such animals on the American continent.

The company meets a noble-looking gentleman named Gerris. He says they ended up in Bolivia. He invites everyone to his hacienda (estate), where everyone can relax and wait for news from Mrs. Weldon's husband. It was a trap. Gerris and Negoro in collusion. And the continent is not America at all. This is Africa!

Gerris and Negoro only care about money. They are thieves. Blacks are sold into slavery. Only Hercules managed to escape. Gerris forces Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her husband. He and Negoro lured a woman with a son to take a considerable ransom. A faithful wife is afraid that her husband will also be lured into a trap and demand something completely unbelievable.

A woman with a son and a cousin settled among black savages.

Cousin Benedict is allowed to wander unguarded because he is considered a man out of his mind.

The entomologist really only sees his own insects. Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed him and dragged him somewhere. The disappearance of a cousin forced the protection of mother and son to be strengthened.

A big celebration took place in the African village. On such holidays, everyone is waiting for the arrival of the forest spirit - the sorcerer "mganga". He usually appears all painted with amazing colors, in strange outfit. And here he is! It was a giant. He danced, jumped, shouted furiously, throwing up his spear, and chose two victims for himself: Mrs. Weldon and her son.

Nobody dared to oppose him. He shouldered his victims and disappeared into the thicket. The woman lost consciousness. Jack beat the monster with his small fists.

It turned out that the one who stole Benedict and Mrs. Weldon with her son was not a sorcerer at all, but kind Hercules, grateful for his salvation at sea. The black giant also managed to save Dick Send. A small group makes their way to the sea to board some kind of ship. By chance they meet Negoro. Duc and Hercules do not have time to do anything: Dingo rushes at the insidious cook and gnaws his throat.

Unfortunately, before his death, the villain managed to plunge a dagger into the faithful dog, and the dog died. It turned out that when Negoro killed Dingo's first owner, Sam Vernon, for money.

Finally, everyone who escaped was lucky to get to America. Duc became Mrs. Weldon for the eldest son, Hercules - for a true friend. And the Negroes, who were sold into slavery, were subsequently found and ransomed by Mr. Weldon.

A feast was held to celebrate the return of the travelers. The first toast was to Dick Send, a fifteen-year-old captain!

Schooner "Pilgrim" hunts whales. But there are also passengers on the schooner: this is the wife of the owner of the Pilgrim with her five-year-old son Jack. They are sailing to America to see Mr. Weldon, her husband and father. Cousin Benedict is with them - he is only interested in entomology (the science of insects).

Travelers met an abandoned ship at sea, where there were living creatures: a Dingo dog and five blacks. The huge Negro Hercules became a good friend to everyone, especially to little Jack.

While hunting for a whale, a boat with a captain and crew perishes. Young Dick Sand takes over the ship. A smart guy would have done it, but Negoro's forensic cook messed up the compass. This cook is very suspicious. Here is the dog, he made friends with everyone, growls and barks at Negoro.

Finally we got to the shore. Travelers think they are in South America. Negoro says that he is familiar with this continent. Here they will get what city, they will contact Mr. Weldon, and he will save everyone. And strange things happen. The vegetation is not American, little Jack cannot see the promised hummingbird, Cousin Benedict rejoices that he saw an African insect in America. Suddenly everyone saw giraffes - but there are no such animals on the American continent.

The company meets a noble-looking gentleman named Harris. He says they ended up in Bolivia. He invites everyone to his hacienda (estate), where everyone can relax and wait for news from Mrs. Weldon's husband. It was a trap. Harris and Negoro are in a conspiracy. And the continent is not America at all. This is Africa!

Harris and Negoro only care about money. They are thieves. Blacks are sold into slavery. Only Hercules managed to escape. Harris forces Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her husband. He and Negoro lured a woman with a son to take a considerable ransom. A faithful wife is afraid that her husband will also be lured into a trap and demand something completely unbelievable.

A woman with a son and a cousin settled among Negro savages.

Cousin Benedict is allowed to roam without guards, as they consider her husband out of his mind.

The entomologist really only sees his own insects. Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed him and dragged him where he was. The disappearance of a cousin forced the protection of mother and son to be strengthened.

There was a big celebration in the African village. On such holidays, everyone is waiting for the arrival of the forest spirit - the sorcerer "mganga". He usually appears all painted with strange colors, in a strange outfit. And here he is! It was a giant. He danced, jumped, shouted furiously, tossing spears, and chose two victims for himself: Mrs. Weldon and her son.

Nobody dared to resist him. He shouldered the victims and disappeared into the thicket. The woman lost consciousness. Jack beat the monster with his small fists.

It turned out that the one who stole Benedict and Mrs. Weldon with her son was not a sorcerer at all, but kind Hercules, grateful for his salvation at sea. The black giant also managed to save Wild Sand. A small group makes their way to the sea to board which ship. By chance they meet Negoro. Dick and Hercules do not have time to do anything: Dingo rushes at the insidious cook and gnaws his throat.

Unfortunately, before his death, the villain managed to plunge a dagger into the faithful dog, and the dog died. It turned out that when Negoro killed Dingo's first owner, Sam Vernon, for money.

Finally, everyone who escaped was lucky to get to America. Dick became Mrs. Weldon for her eldest son, Hercules for a true friend. And the blacks were sold into slavery, subsequently found and bought by Mr. Weldon.

A feast was held to celebrate the return of the travelers. The first toast was to Wild Sand, a fifteen-year-old captain!