GIMLET'S ORIENTAL QUEST
First Published on 26th November 1948* - 191 pages
* This information is taken from a letter
from A. P. Watt & Son to W. E. Johns in my collection
A
slightly unusual Gimlet book this, in that Gimlet makes no appearance in the story
at all until page 97 (as does Copper) and that Trapper
doesn't feature in the book at all. Cub has been invited up to Strathcarglas, Gimlet's sporting lodge in Scotland. We are
told that Trapper has returned to Canada to visit his folks and the Copper has
been delayed in attending on account of his sick mother. Cub has gone to
Scotland alone, only to find that due to a misunderstanding, the lodge
caretaker and his wife have gone on their annual visit to Edinburgh. Cub goes
to stay at the Fisher Arms Hotel in nearby Auchrory,
to await the arrival of everybody and does some fishing in the meantime. Whilst
on the riverbank, he sees something suspicious. A man is being chased by two
other men, who, it is later ascertained are named Smith and Gray.
The man being chased hides something in a hollow tree and later is found
drowned in the river. The man turns out to be Dr.
Lander and Cub befriends his son Tony, as they were staying at the same hotel.
The police don't suspect foul play but Cub and Tony do and the following day
they go looking for the hollow tree. Unfortunately, due to heavy rains, the
river is in full spate and the tree is washed away before Cub and Tony can get
to it. They follow the floating tree downstream and eventually recover a sealed
box from the tree hollow. The box contains a map and ancient Siamese writing.
Tony and his father used to live in Siam. Tony then receives a hand written
letter from his father, delivered in person by his father's solicitors, who had
been instructed to do so in the event of his death. The letter explains
everything. A Siamese friend of Dr. Lander, called
Kashan Bhandu has hidden a fortune in jade and the
map reveals the location. Only Kashan and Dr. Lander
knew the location and Kashan has since died at the hands of the Japanese. In
his will he has left his fortune to Dr. Lander and
with the death of Dr. Lander it now belongs to Tony.
The letter reveals how Dr. Lander was living in fear
of a man called Tuanik, who is after the treasure and
who then immediately arrives at the hotel! Tuanik and
his henchmen, Smith and Gray, try to use force to get
the map from Tony. Cub is hit on the head and it is at this juncture that
Gimlet and Copper arrive. Tuanik and his men leave
with a fake map. Tony agrees to go with Gimlet and his men to Siam to recover
the hoard of treasure. Borrowing Freddy Ashton's yacht, called the "Sally",
Gimlet and the others sail to Siam but they are seen on their arrival by Tuanik. Cub and Tony go ahead to stay at a tea house called
the Little Lotus Flower and here they are kidnapped by "policemen"
and taken to Tuanik to be tortured. Gimlet and Copper
save them in the nick of time. They all jump from the window of an opium den
into a Chinese junk and this is the illustration on the cover of the book. Going
on to Kashan's former residence, now in ruins and overrun by the jungle, our
heroes follow the map to the treasure. It is hidden in a coffin in a tomb on an
island guarded by a giant crocodile. Tuanik and his
two henchmen arrive and the crocodile kills Smith. Tuanik
and Gray kill the crocodile in an attempt to save
their comrade and then return to Gimlet's jeep to try ambushing our heroes once
they have recovered the priceless jade ornaments. Here they are attacked and
killed by one of Kashan's loyal members of staff. This is in revenge for Tuanik turning Kashan over to the Japanese during the war.
The treasure is recovered and later sold for nearly a quarter of a million
pounds. Tony wants to share this with the others but they refuse and only
accept what they consider to be a fair proportion for the services rendered.
Click here to read a fascinating story about an original signed copy of Gimlet’s Oriental Quest
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Gimlet's Oriental Quest
Subtitle - A "King of the
Commandos" Adventure.
Publication Details - originally published by Brockhampton Press
Ltd.
First Edition
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
Click on the Paperback above to find out all about the GIMLET
Armada paperbacks and see the many DIFFERENT illustrations in them
The “Hampton Library” reprint – click on the above picture to
find out more details