Sam Steele's Adventures: The Pearls of Faytan

And here is the final book in the Boy Fortune Hunters series. Never again did Baum write any more adventures for Sam Steele. Or anyone else. This is the shortest long-running series Baum wrote. Oz practically didn't end, Aunt Jane's Nieces went until the publishers and author felt it had reached a logical conclusion, and Mary Louise was even continued after Baum's death.

Let's take into consideration when The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas was published: 1911. This is when Baum had attempted to practically start over fresh without Oz. He started three new series that year and decided to continue with Aunt Jane's Nieces. Probably because that series had a very wide scope. For whatever reason, Baum decided to conclude The Boy Fortune Hunters in 1911 as well.

I begin to suspect that Baum just didn't like writing specifically for boys. You'll notice that all of his fantasy work, despite whether or not a boy or girl led the story, really isn't gender-specific in its audience. Aunt Jane's Nieces, The Flying Girl, The Daring Twins, Annabel, and his adult novels (I haven't yet read Mary Louise) often feature male and female protagonists, making them accessible to all readers. Here, Baum is attempting to reach out to a specifically male audience, and while he does admirably and the stories are very enjoyable, I can't help but think his heart wasn't in it. That may also explain why this was also the shortest in the series.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas starts with the Seagull crew in Australia when they are propositioned to sell the Seagull to Senor de Jiminez. Senor has a shipment of weapons to take home to Colombia to aid the revolution he is playing a lead role in. It's illegal for Americans to ship weapons to other countries, which is why the Seagull can't just be hired.

However, the crew doesn't want to part with the ship, since they've invested so much in it. So, Sam makes an offer. They sell it to Senor, sail with him to Colombia, and buy back the Seagull once they drop off the weapons. This way, they are not breaking the law.

Senor has a few extra guests. His wife, his mother, and his son and daughter, the latter of which (to Sam's amazement) Joe becomes smitten with.

... Sam, why do you care so much that Joe is in love with a girl?

A storm at sea breaks the Seagull's rudder and gets it wedged between two rocks near an island. However, Nux and Bryonia recognize the island as Faytan, and realize their own home island of Tuamotu isn't far away. (Huh... In Book Two, they said their island was named Takayoo...) The natives are not friendly, Nux and Bry warn, and will kill any invaders. In fact, this is what happens when Ned Britton and some other men venture to the island.

However, Nux and Bryonia stir Sam's greedy side and tell him of the Faytan pearls and their amazing city. Sam wishes he could see it, when Senor's son Alfonso tells him he can with a biplane he's purchased. Sam and Joe use it to fly over Faytan, but they are forced to land it on the island and before they can launch again, they are captured and brought to the recently-crowned boy king of Faytan, Atterro.

It is, of course, the law in Faytan that all strangers must die, but Sam takes a page from Chick the Cherub and tries to delay the execution by telling Atterro of the outside world to buy time. But will it work? Can Sam and Joe leave Faytan alive? Will the Seagull ever sail again? This is the last book after all...

Sam gets to be his worst when it comes to his ignorance of foreign affairs. The Jiminez family are sure they are famous and their revolution will be talked about all over the world, but Sam blatantly says to their faces that really, Americans don't care. If this revolution is mentioned in an American newspaper, he says, it'll get about an inch of type when it's all over.

Nux and Bryonia's story gets to have a full conclusion here, even though it is a bit off with what they told about their home in the second book in the series. Their story is finally told in full, and these two excellent characters are none the worse for it.

What really gets odd here is the fact that Archie has vanished. We can only assume he's back home with his family after their adventure in Yucatan. However, Baum gets to play up the relationship between Joe and Sam. It's grown so close over the past three books that when Sam realizes Joe likes Lucia de Jiminez and is even being chummy with her, he's surprised and doesn't see why Joe likes her. (Later, she does help out and I suppose Sam will think better of her.) And I suppose it's time to bring up a fan theory that's going around.

Sam Steele might very well be gay and in love with Joe. Joe, however, loves Sam in a completely non-homosexual fashion. Of course, considering the culture, Sam probably doesn't realize this himself. He often remarks about the looks of the men he encounters, often noting when they are handsome. However, he has little to no attraction to any women he encounters, even if he thinks they're pretty. And, in The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan, Sam almost says it in his narration when Ama reveals that she has helped save the day: "I felt like kissing everybody all around—even including Ama and her maidens."

Even Ama and her handmaidens? All the other people besides them are the men and boys Sam's been traveling with. I doubt Baum intended this, but it is a subtext that works very well in the series.

You do have to wonder how Sam ended his days. He appears to be very rich, so I'm sure he could retire on land and live comfortably. But regardless of whether or not Sam was gay, would he ever find someone to spend the rest of his life with? Lucia seems to knock Joe off the table, so, what's that leave Sam with? He's a rich snob with high standards. I find it more likely that Sam remained a bachelor. (The Aunt Jane's Nieces series, on the other hand, assured us that they had all married by the end of the revised last book.)

So, the series overall? It's a series of tales of high adventure and treasure seeking, told from the perspective of an enterprising young American man. Baum writes as well as he can. Early on the series is excellent, but as Baum tried to make the series sell better, his own interest in the series dwindled, though the stories are no less exciting. Definitely check them out.

Sam Steele's Adventures: The Valley of the Tcha

And onto book... Yes, that is a very different cover design. Back in the day, Hungry Tiger Press was trying to publish the series in a matching set like this. I suppose sales weren't too high (as evidenced by the fact that they still have this one in stock), and the only books published in this format were the last two books. This means only the last five books have been reprinted in standalone format, while the first still remains reprinted recently in Oz-Story #1 only.

In this one, the Seagull crew is taking a break. In fact, Sam's father and Uncle Naboth have advised Sam to stop these adventures, considering how close he's come to death. So, the Seagull isn't sailing for adventure this time.

Adventure comes to the Seagull!

Lt. Paul Allerton and his aide Chaka approach the crew of the Seagull, and tells them how his widowed mother and sister need money to pay off their mortgages and he isn't earning enough in the army to even try it. But he has a plan: Chaka told him of his homeland where his father rules the ancient tribe of the Itzaex. However, not far from there lies a valley completely hidden by a mountain, in which is the city of the Tcha, who decorate everything with gold and gems.

Using special equipment his uncle has devised, Paul plans to break into the Valley of the Tcha and take enough riches to pay off the mortgage and give his family something to live off of. And also pay back the Seagull crew for their trouble and assistance.

The special equipment consists of inflatable suits that, when filled with themlyne (I can't seem to find this gas listed anywhere, so it is possible that it is a Baum creation), allow the wearer to rise into the air. The wearer can even "fly" using fan-like wings attached.

Also, they are equipped with electrites: electric tubes that send a ray that can stun a human unconscious for about two hours. (A footnote notes a real ray that was able to kill a horse from four miles away from about the same time, and that the author disavowed any knowledge of this ray.)

Arriving in Yucatan, the group heads to the Itzaex, and along the way, they have to fight off the enemy tribe of Mopanes, who have killed Chaka's father, making him the new ruler. However, the priests of the Itzaex demand that all accompanying Chaka must die, so they are forced to use the new equipment to make a daring escape from the Itzaex village and head over to the Tcha's mountain.

Breaking into Tcha, they are captured and sentenced to be used for sacrifices. However, the High Priestess (who Sam calls Ama for lack of a proper name, Ama is actually her title) is fascinated by them. Can Sam and his friends exploit her curiosity and earn their safety, or is it curtains for Sam at last? And furthermore, how safe are the Tcha from invasion?

Baum keeps up as typical for the series. An exciting pace with quite a bit of action and intrigue. Reading the series chronologically for the first time, I couldn't help but be reminded of the second book in which curious new technology helps Sam and his friends with dealing with fierce natives who want to kill them. The stories are, of course, different, but Baum's fascination with technology was bound to turn up again considering the number of books he wrote.

Wait... There's also a girl one of our leads falls for... So, there's another similarity to the second book... Huh.

Anyway, I begin to suspect that this wasn't one of Baum's favorite series. Despite his vivid imagination, the stories were beginning to get repetitious. So, is it any wonder that the next book was the shortest in the series and also the last?

Sam Steele's Adventure's: The Scream of the Sacred Ape

Here's book four in the series. It was originally published as The Boy Fortune Hunters in China, but Hungry Tiger Press gave it the more attractive title The Scream of the Sacred Ape. I believe it was the first "Sam Steele" book in the Pawprint Adventures series.

The Seagull happens to be near the Karamata Maru when it sinks and they manage to rescue about two-thirds of the people on board. Most of the passengers are transferred to another ship that comes shortly (and, as Sam lets us know, gets all the public credit for the rescue). Three remain behind, a Dr. Gaylord, Prince Kai Lun Pu and his faithful servant Mai Lo.

Prince Kai is badly injured and Dr. Gaylord is sure he is dying. Sam finds the Prince to be an amiable fellow, and they talk about their adventures. The Chinese Prince reveals he has no faith in his family's ancestor worship and doesn't care that he's exhausted his fortune, which according to tradition was supposed to be divided in half and one half buried with the body for use in the afterlife.

However, Kai is also the last of his line: once he dies, the family vaults are to be sealed forever. But as the Prince is sure, that would hide away forever a great treasure that could make someone very rich, such as the people who managed to rescue him from a watery grave and give him some boyish companionship in his final days? He gives Sam, Archie and Joe his blessing to take what they want from the vault, and gives them several points on how to do so.

However, Kai also warns them of Mai Lo. He's sure his servant has also turned away from the ancient traditions and is not looking forward to what he must do as his final act of service to the Pu family: hide any trace of the family vaults and kill himself. Kai is sure Mai Lo will plunder the vault himself and move away from China. So, what he wants Sam and the boys to do is simply beat Mai Lo to the job!

Kai dies as the Seagull heads to China. Knowing that Mai Lo will be shamed if he can't bring back the Prince's body, Sam and Dr. Gaylord make a pretense at embalming the body with rum in private, but replace it with rubbish from the Seagull and give the Prince an impromptu sea burial.

In China, they head into the country and get to Prince Kai's home where they begin to make their plans, offering a pretense that they are collecting gifts to send to Kai's friends in other countries. Mai Lo, who knows that the Prince's body has been replaced somehow, wishes to get rid of Sam and the boys at any time. In Kai's palace, however, they find a friend in the very trusting Chief Eunuch Wi-to.

However, Sam and his friends can't keep themselves out of trouble, and soon, they end up getting into serious danger by meeting Kai's sister, and Mai Lo's daughter and second wife (who is only fifteen), a crime punishable by death! Can Sam and his friends get the treasure and escape with their lives?

Baum writes with a good bit of knowledge of the Chinese traditions. Even though he has Sam and his friends and Prince Kai not believe in them, they are treated rather respectfully. While Mai Lo is rather wicked, it is made clear that he has little respect for the traditions himself and has his own selfish goals in mind.

By introducing Kai's sister and Mai Lo's daughter and wife, Baum allows his feminist side to speak up, speaking against the "women as property" tradition with the now generally accepted "women are equal to men" concept. It was becoming a common tradition in America, but in China, there are two classes. The working class women were generally just regular women (Sam notes some on his trip to Kai's palace), but the daughters and wives of the rulers are pampered and kept away from the outside world.

But these girls want to know things outside of the harem, a need Sam and his friends can see, but they have no real interest in addressing. Thus, Sam and his friends are really no better than Mai Lo in this regard. Of course, Sam and his friends really have no power there.

This is an exception in the series in which Sam and his friends are careful not to publicly offend traditions or laws of the people they visit. They do it in private, but they do oppose these ideas, but with Prince Kai's blessing. Baum is depicting the beginning of the end of this Chinese tradition. Once the people who practice a tradition stop believing in it, continued practice becomes futile.

Perhaps this is actually one of the best of the Sam Steele series! Go ahead and get the Hungry Tiger Press version (if you don't have it already) and check it out!

Sam Steele's Adventures: The Treasure of Karnak

I've already mentioned how the Sam's Steele's Adventures series was re-branded and reissued in 1908 as The Boy Fortune Hunters series. The third entry to the series, The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt, managed to deftly use the first two books as a preliminary for new adventures.

I do have to wonder, were there any readers who wound up with both Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea and The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska and be surprised that the books were exactly the same story, just with different titles and different authors' names? And think how curious it might be for a family to have an older brother reading the Boy Fortune Hunters series, a younger sister reading Aunt Jane's Nieces, a younger child reading the Oz books, and the youngest enjoying the fairy stories of Laura Bancroft, with the parents none the wiser that all four series were in fact written by the same man!

The book opens with Sam and his father awaiting freight for the just-completed Seagull, when they are joined by a runaway boy from another ship, Joe Herring. Joe begs to join the Seagull, and Sam acquiesces, though he has to trick his father into keeping the boy aboard, but Captain Steele trusts Sam's judgement.

Yes, we officially have the second boy fortune hunter! And soon, we are joined by the third: Archibald "Archie" Ackley Jr., whose father has hired the Seagull's crew to ship his freight of fake Egyptian relics to Egypt to sell to tourists who will have no idea that they are not getting the real thing.

Ah, Egypt! Of course, this story was inspired by Baum's own trip to Europe and Egypt, and why shouldn't the mysterious land of a famous ancient civilization provide seeds for this author's fertile imagination? For a person of his time, Baum is particularly well-informed (though not entirely accurate) in his knowledge of Egypt.

Baum doesn't cut straight to Egypt, though. He has Sam describe a few adventures at sea, including how Sam and Joe became chums with Archie, who at first looked down on the Seagull crew, but soon regards them as friends. Let me tell you, though, Baum is at top form for humor here!

In Egypt, the crew meets Professor Van Dorn who tells them he has discovered the actual location of the long-lost treasure of Karnak, and will pay them handsomely if they will help him recover and smuggle the treasure out of the country, as the Khedive has made a law stating that no artifacts may leave Egypt.

However, in order to get to the treasure, it is necessary for Sam and his group to deal with many Egyptian citizens (Sam's ethnic superiority complex kicking in often), from elderly guide Gege Merak to Sheik Abdul Hashim. And after they find the treasure, Sam and his friends quickly find that the number of people they can trust is shrinking rapidly. Can they get back to the Seagull—with or without the treasure—alive?

As usual for the series, Baum writes the story with vigor and energy that makes the story very enjoyable! Baum does, of course, turn to his way of conveying native speech in an unflattering manner.

There is also a rather high body count this time for Baum, with a clear number of five and an unknown number at the end. Of course, none of the series regulars are among these, but how many are they responsible for? It just wouldn't be a Sam Steele story without politically correct or moral quandries, would it be? Add on to this that Van Dorn's plan is to break international law...

The edition I have is the Hungry Tiger Press reprint in the Pawprint Adventure Series, in which they retitled the story The Treasure of Karnak with the new series title Sam Steele's Adventures. It was the most lavish of the reprints of the series they'd done, with chapter headings and tailpieces by Eric Shanower, an informative foreword by Baum/Oz scholar/Egyptologist David Moyer, laying down some of the actual history of the story.

Also included in this edition is a large excerpt from Maud Gage Baum's In Other Lands Than Ours, which gives us a rare look at the first hand inspiration for Baum's story, a rare thing indeed! Maud's wonder and enthusiasm about the Egyptian culture and history really shines out and even after a century, is still infectious.

Since the original edition may be difficult for most Oz fans to afford (copies on Bookfinder.com start at $198), the Hungry Tiger Press reprint is probably your best bet to getting the book.

Sam Steele's Adventures: The Amazing Bubble Car

1907 brought the second installment in L. Frank Baum's pseudonymous Sam Steele series: Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama. The next year, the publishers revamped the series and retitled it The Boy Fortune Hunters in Panama. In 2008, Hungry Tiger Press re-released the book in their Pawprint Adventure Series, a yet-to-be completed reprint series of L. Frank Baum's young adult novels. Hoping to attract new readers, the series was retitled Sam Steele's Adventures, and this book got its third title: The Amazing Bubble Car.

The book finds Sam, his father and their crew relaxing in Chelsea while Mr. Steele oversees the building of their new ship The Seagull. New beginnings are in store for Steele, Perkins & Steele!

A freighter asks Captain Steele to sail a ship that's seen better days that is carrying a load of steel. Captain Steele refuses as he wants his new ship to be the best it can be, but he suggests that Sam sail it instead. Sam decides to take up the job, taking with him Uncle Naboth Perkins, Ned Britton, and Nux and Bryonia.

As Sam prepares to leave, a certain Duncan Moit asks to travel on board the ship with a large crate. He has created an automobile that uses only a drop of an explosive glycerine to start the engines, which use compressed air. The car can run on land or placid water and features a netted glass dome. This is the prototype and is fully functional, and it is Moit's intention to have his wealthy uncle fund a production line of these seemingly perfect automobiles.

Compressed air engines were actually not such a revolutionary idea, but—as over 100 years has proved—they have not proved popular. They're not very fast, and the cost of compressed air is prohibitive. However, Baum has Moit construct a powerful pump that would remove that problem. It is so fast-acting, that the car can go at speeds that must be at least 60 miles per hour. (Though Baum never uses this in the book.) However, this pump must have been a groundbreaking invention, because despite it being 104 years since Baum's book came out, no one has been able to make such a pump.

Sam accepts Duncan Moit on board, and sure enough, despite hugging the coast as much as possible, the ship eventually wrecks.

While exploring the land nearby, they discover a dead man in a boat who has been killed by an arrow. He also had a diary, which tells of the nearby land of the Techlas, a remnant of the Aztecs. The dead man and his friends attempted to trade for raw diamonds the Techlas had, but the Techlas refused, King Nalig-Nad announcing that no one was allowed to have diamonds anymore since they'd attract the troublesome white men. When they tried again, all of the other men were killed, save the one they found dead. He sent a message to the president, who sent a regiment of soldiers, who were also killed. So, the man attempted to sneak into the Techlas' land, but discovered he was being spied on after he hid a trove of diamonds in a stump, and finally was caught, killed, and his body was sent out in a boat to warn other white men.

Sam decides he wants to try to get the diamonds, and Duncan Moit thinks this would be a good chance to prove the invulnerability of the car. They decide Nux and Bryonia will pretend to be kings of their home island of Takayoo, and Sam and Duncan pretend to be their slaves.

Driving boldly into the Techla's land, Nux and Bryonia try to enter peaceful arrangements with Nalig-Nad, who quickly suspects they are lying. However, they don't feel any real need to fear, and Duncan falls in love with Nalig-Nad's daughter Ilalah, set to be ruler when Nalig-Nad dies.

One morning they awake to find a quickly-built wall preventing them from escape in the car, but at night, Duncan uses some of the explosive glycerine in a hole he bores into it, and the next morning, being joined by Ilalah, they shoot at the glycerine, causing it blow up the wall, and they make their escape into the jungle, where they find the stump empty.

However, the stump was emptied by Tcharn, a short native who makes all the arrow heads for the Techlas. He agrees to give them the diamonds, and they give him gifts and a ride in the car as they head back to the wreck, where they are informed Ned Britton sailed a raft to Colon, where he telegraphed for a ship to come rescue them and carry the steel the rest of the way to San Pedro.

During the night back at the ship, Ilalah is taken by the natives, and the next morning, they go after her, discovering the elders of the Techlas declaring her worthy of death for her treachery. Nalig-Nad tries to shoot her, but Tcharn takes the arrow for her. When the men in the car try to save her, they are overpowered and are about to be executed when Ilalah protests, says the white men are good, and their machine is powerful.

Nalig-Nad scoffs at this and proceeds to drive his spear into the car, making holes. However, in doing so, he upsets the store of explosive glycerine, destroying the car, himself, and—as Duncan reveals later—all the plans for the car.

Duncan decides that since he could not hope to rebuild the car without his plans or a prototype, much less having no more money, he will stay with Ilalah, becoming her husband and ruling the Techlas with her. But he warns Sam that they must never return to the land of the Techlas under penalty of death.

Sam and his crew sail up to Colon (which Sam openly detests, and I can't help but wonder if Baum is pulling off some naughty wordplay), and soon to Panama. The steel is recovered and Sam is not held accountable for the loss of the old ship, and the diamonds they have are priced at a hefty sum and are sold. Sam rejoins his father, who is completing work on The Seagull.

This really sets the pace for the rest of the series. Sam, believing himself to be superior due to being an enterprising American, goes to another country and offends the natives by taking treasure. A risky and exciting business to be sure, but does Sam really have the right? And by writing the story, did Baum approve of this invasive treasure-seeking? In the first book, this wasn't an issue as the land they visit is uncharted and part of no country, nor are there natives to offend.

Sam is also quick to disparage the natives, more or less giving the idea that "I'm an American, I have the right to everything!" A rather skewed Manifest Destiny mentality, if you ask me. He sees the Techlas as savages, and he never really says that their actions killed anyone besides Nalig-Nad, but when you consider that wall-breaking scene, surely someone must have died. He does eventually see that they do have some sort of organization and civilization, but it is too late at this point.

Similarly, Sam doesn't think highly of Duncan's decision to marry Ilalah, much less deciding to stay with her. He recognizes that she's beautiful, but, as later books reveal, Sam would never dream of marrying a foreign woman. (I like to think he grows up rich as Croesus, and dies alone.)

So, what is Baum doing here? Is he saying to be this type of person is all right?

Actually, if you ask me, I think Baum is poking a sarcastic finger at adventure stories of the day. Sam is a pig-headed adventurer who thinks himself to be better than the people he's wronging not because of things he's done, but because of his nationality. He thinks only of himself and his close friends' safety and their own interests.

In Baum's controversial editorials about Native Americans, reading them in their full context shows that Baum believed Americans wronged the Indians and have taken away the pride and dignity of the Indians that we might as well finish the job and kill them if that was how we'd treat them. If we end a culture, why not end the people, too? I'm sure Baum was glad when this didn't happen. Thus, looking at these, I think Baum is depicting this very poor aspect of American patriotism in Sam himself. Sam offends the natives and their culture, and only bears little remorse if some native must die.

Today we have generally advanced to be more respectful of other cultures and countries, and if someone tried to do what Sam did, they would be in an awful lot of trouble.

Still, what does this mean for someone in the 21st century reading Baum's stories? Is it a bad story to be avoided because of what the characters do? My answer is: of course not. If you look at Sam's motives in a modern light, the stories are actually quite exciting and enjoyable, and take on a humorous light when you consider that Sam, depicting himself as the hero, is actually more of a villain. Disturbingly, we must remember that there was a time when this mentality was considered to be okay. As an advancing society, we can never risk slipping back into this mentality, and Baum's stories offer a warning.

And anyway, as an alternative to Baum's pig-headed Sam, we have characters like Duncan who originally thought of fame and fortune, but gave it up for love and decided to embrace a foreign culture because of it. Though Sam Steele could never understand why anyone would want to do that...

Sam Steele's Adventures: The Legend Begins

L. Frank Baum learned a lesson the hard way: his books sold better if he published one Baum book a year. Too many would flood the marketplace and he'd be competing with himself. 1900 and 1901 showed sales far too low for his books. (Aside from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.)

Finally, Reilly & Britton came along with The Marvelous Land of Oz and soon made a deal with Baum to publish many of his books, except the public wouldn't realize they were Baum books, because he'd write under pseudonyms. Also, he could do a varied output. So, while only John Dough and the Cherub appeared in 1906 under Baum's name, he actually had many books out, including the first two Aunt Jane's Nieces books by "Edith Van Dyne," the "Twinkle Tales" series by "Laura Bancroft," Annabel by "Suzanne Metcalf," Daughters of Destiny by "Schuyler Stanton," and Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea by "Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald."

It is the last book mentioned that is at hand, and before we start looking at it, let's look at the history. Sam Steele's Adventures was followed by a sequel in 1907, but the series just wasn't selling well. In a strange twist, the series was reissued in 1908 now attributed to "Floyd Akers" and retitled The Boy Fortune Hunters, which was more attractively titled, and sold better and the series went on, finishing with six books.

The first book was retitled The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska, which isn't an accurate title. The only boy hero in the story is Sam Steele, and he doesn't go to Alaska. (Close to it, but not TO it.)

The series has been reprinted in the past 20 years by Hungry Tiger Press. The first book was published in Oz-Story #1 as the concluding L. Frank Baum novel. This is how it is currently represented in my collection. David Maxine once mentioned he planned to publish the book again in a standalone form, but we need to remember HTP is a small press. (So go buy some books!) I'll reveal how they published the series in later blogs.

The story opens with Sam Steele, a young teenage boy who's been left at home with an old woman named Mrs. Ranck to care for him while his father is at sea, shipping freight. When our story opens, Sam is informed that his father's ship wrecked and his father is dead. Mrs. Ranck tells Sam he has to leave, because she now owns the house and his father didn't pay her, estimating her loss at $400. (Remember, 1906.)

Sam says that his father told him the house was his, and that he had treasures in his room. But when they inspect the room the next day, the room is empty. Sam is made to leave, but he vows to pay Mrs. Ranck the money she's owed.

Sam meets Naboth Perkins, his uncle, who was visiting to extend condolences, and after facing Mrs. Ranck himself, he offers Sam to take a taste of his father's business by going on a freighting trip himself. Since Sam has nowhere to go, he takes him up on this.

We are introduced to the crew of the Flipper, including Naboth Perkins, Ned Britton (the sole survivor of Sam's father's ship's destruction), and the two Sulu islanders who were rescued after being found at sea, Nux and Bryonia.

I'm rather of the opinion that Nux and Bry is a rare example of Baum successfully depicting national diversity. Yes, he does include some less-than-flattering dialect for them, and at times, they are asked to do quite a bit of work or sacrifice something temporarily, but Baum never depicts them negatively.

On a voyage, the Flipper is lost in a storm, and they come across an uncharted island, where they are captured by stranded men who have been living there, washing gold dust and building up a fortune. Their leader proves to be amiable and suggests the Flipper's crew work with them and sell them goods from the freight and go home after a few months, or else they can be killed. The crew decides to work with the men.

Sam runs the makeshift "store," and notes some unsavory characters, and sure enough, one night, Sam is awoken at gun point as four of these men steal his gold and many provisions. Sam, Nux, and Bry follow them stealthily, though Bry is caught and plays along that he wants to go with them and will work for them without wanting any gold.

Sam and Nux observe the scoundrels as they decide to make a raft, take the Flipper, and head back to America. As a hideout, they have a cave that serves as a safe hideaway due to its very secure location. While they are away, Sam and Nux manage to empty the bags of stolen gold into Nux's trousers (he has to go without for a bit as Sam ties up the ends into a bag) and replace it with sand.

Finally, there is a storm, and during it, Bry rejoins Sam and Nux, and a balancing rock is struck by lightning, sealing off the cave, creating a tomb for the scoundrels. The three go back to the rest of the group, and restore the gold to its proper owners. They stay on the island for awhile longer, obtaining more gold, and eventually decide to return to America.

Sam decides to pay off Mrs. Ranck, but a big surprise is in store for him: his father is alive! And furthermore, as Uncle Naboth suspected, she was lying! Captain Steele's treasures are hidden in a cellar. Mrs. Ranck is given a fairly generous sum and sent packing, and soon a new freighting firm is formed: "Steele, Perkins & Steele."

And there we go, Baum told an exciting story, and set up a wide scope for sequels: with a crew on a ship at sea, the possibilities were virtually endless.

Sam narrates the story from his perspective, and it's written well. I've read it at least twice before, but this time, I began to notice something about Sam. He considers crying "unmanly" and when he uses Nux's trousers for a bag, he mentions he laughs at how funny the Sulu looks. In which case, our hero might not exactly be the best person in the world. Or is he? Hmm... We'll see how he develops.

The story reminded me a lot of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, and others have noted a nod to H. Rider Haggard's She in the balancing rock plot element. In David Maxine's foreword in Oz-Story, he notes "no slight to Baum's imaginative powers; She influenced everybody!" I also recalled a similar element in Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey, as well as "The Seven Cities of Cibola" by Carl Barks (an Uncle Scrooge comic book adventure), which later supposedly influenced a scene in an Indiana Jones movie. Art influences art influences art!

One thing I love about the Oz-Story version is that Maxine (quite likely assisted by Eric Shanower) managed to use art by John R. Neill to illustrate the story, even though Neill had never been commissioned to work on the series. The art comes from Neill's magazine work, and works surprisingly well, and since this was also my first exposure to the series, I picture Sam and Uncle Naboth looking exactly as they do in the improvised illustrations.

Anyway, the adventures of Sam Steele had begun, and Baum was only too glad to present more.