The 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 sail to America to see Mr. Weldon, husband and father, there. Cousin Benedict is with them - he is only interested in entomology (the science of insects).
The travelers met an abandoned ship at sea, where there were living creatures: a Dingo dog and five blacks. The huge black man Hercules became a good friend to everyone, especially little Jack.
During a whale hunt, a boat with a captain and crew dies. Cabin boy Dick Sand takes control of the ship. A smart guy would have managed it, but the court cook Negoro ruined the compass. This cook is very suspicious. Here is the dog, he has made friends with everyone, growls and barks at Negoro.
Finally we reached the shore. Travelers think they are in South America. Negoro says that he is familiar with this continent. Once they get to some city, they 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 is glad that he saw an African insect in America. Suddenly everyone saw giraffes - but these animals are not found on the American continent.
The company meets a noble-looking gentleman named Harris. He says they ended up in Bolivia. 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 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 and her son to take a considerable ransom. A faithful wife is afraid that her husband will also be lured into a trap and will demand something completely incredible.
The woman, her son and her cousin were settled among the black savages.
Cousin Benedict is allowed to wander unguarded, as they consider the husband to be out of his mind.
An entomologist really only sees his insects. Suddenly a strong hand grabbed him and dragged him somewhere. The disappearance of the cousin forced increased security for mother and son.
A big celebration took place in an African village. At such holidays, everyone waits for the arrival of the forest spirit - the sorcerer "mganga". He usually appears all painted with strange colors, in a strange outfit. And then he appeared! It was a giant. He danced, jumped, shouted furiously, throwing spears, and chose two victims: Mrs. Weldon and her son.
No one 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 and their son was not a sorcerer at all, but good 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 scoundrel 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 reach America. Dick became Mrs. Weldon for his eldest son, Hercules for his faithful friend. And the blacks who were sold into slavery were later found and redeemed by Mr. Weldon.
A feast was held in honor of the travelers' return. The first toast was to Wild Sand, the fifteen-year-old captain!
In the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain,” a 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.
Everything is managed by the experienced captain Gul, with him five experienced and experienced sailors and a 15-year-old junior sailor named Dick Sand. He is an orphan. On the ship are also the 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 nothing less than Cousin Benedict, and, finally, the old nanny Nan.
Captain Gul's sailboat is sailing to America. The first trouble occurs a few days after the start of the journey. Jack notices the ship overturned on its side. There is a hole in his nose. The crew of the Pilgrim rescues five starving blacks and a dog named Dingo.
From the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (reading a summary is faster than reading the entire work) we learn that their names are Tom, Bath, Austin, Hercules and Actaeon. They are all free US citizens. They say that they were returning from New Zealand, where they worked under contract, to America. Their ship, the Waldeck, collided with another ship, after which the captains and all crew members disappeared, leaving them alone. They continue their journey together with the heroes of the novel, and after some time they look completely healthy and restored.
Whale fishing
In the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain,” a brief summary of which helps you quickly remember the plot, the mysterious events do not stop there. The dog Dingo is acting suspiciously. 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 his readiness to pounce at the first opportunity. Negoro tries not to be seen by the dog at all.
The only one who has an idea of how to control the ship is actually the cabin boy Dick Sand. He becomes a fifteen-year-old captain. A summary of the chapters of this novel helps to better understand the author's intentions.
Inexperienced captain
Dick patiently teaches the blacks the sailor's craft. He is a courageous and internally mature guy, but he still lacks knowledge about navigation, the ability to navigate the open ocean only using a compass and a device that measures the speed of the ship.
In addition, he does not know how to determine his location by the stars, which the insidious Negoro immediately takes advantage of. The cook breaks one of the compasses and, unnoticed by the others, changes the readings on the second. 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 runs 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 from the ship unnoticed. Only he alone knows for sure where they sailed.
Dick, who went in search of local residents, runs into the American Harris. He is in cahoots 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 about a hundred kilometers deep into the mainland. Only after some time do Dick and Tom realize that somehow they ended up in Africa, and not in South America. Harris, realizing that they had discovered him, immediately hides in the forest and goes to meet Negoro.
Only at this point does something begin to become clearer for readers of Verne’s “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (a summary will not replace the work itself). Harris is actually a slave trader, Negoro also used to be involved in the underground business. It all ended when the authorities in his native Portugal sentenced the cook to life in hard labor. He managed to escape two weeks later and was soon accepted onto the Pilgrim. After that, he immediately began to look for a moment to be in Africa again.
The death of the captain and the inexperience of Dick Sand played into his hands. Now there is a slave caravan nearby that is heading to Kazonde.
Betrayal
As soon as Harris disappears, 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 on this path, hoping to take the travelers by surprise.
But until they meet the villains, the heroes of the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” by Jules Verne, a summary of which we are now considering, will have to experience the forces of nature. They are hit by rain and thunder. The river overflows its banks, rising several feet above the ground.
Travelers try to wait out the elements in an empty termite mound with thick clay walls. But, having got out of there, they immediately find themselves captured. Dick, Nan and the blacks are sent on the road along with the caravan. Only the resourceful Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon and her relative are taken away in an unknown direction.
Path in a caravan
Having joined the caravan, Dick and his comrades will endure terrible hardships. They witness the brutal treatment of slaves. Old Nan, unable to withstand the suffering, dies.
In Kazonda, slaves are distributed among barracks. Harris tells Dick that Mrs. Weldon and her son have died. But it was again a deception. Sand, not yet knowing this, in despair snatches the dagger from him and kills the slave trader.
Slave Fair
One of the climaxes of the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (a summary for the reader's diary can be found in this article) is the slave fair. After this, Dick's execution must take place. Negoro, who had seen the scene of the murder of his American comrade and now reasonably fears for his own safety, has already agreed on this with influential people in Kazonda.
The owner of a caravan of slaves named Alvets promises the local king Muani-Lung fire water in case of a successful execution. He readily agrees, because he has not been able to live without alcohol for a long time. It turns out that this was a sophisticated execution for Muani-Lungu himself. Alvets presents him with too strong a punch. When the chief begins to drink, he sets the drink on fire. The king's body, soaked in alcohol, catches fire, and he rots down to his 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 will 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 post.
Hostages from "Pilgrim"
At the same time, Mrs. Weldon, along with her son and cousin, lived in Kazonda near Alvets. They are held hostage, Negoro expects to receive a substantial 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 at ease. Cousin Benedict, who has always been interested in collecting insects, is one day pursuing a particularly rare ground beetle. In this pursuit, he accidentally falls into a wormhole and finds himself free. Without noticing this at first, he runs another two miles through the forest in the hope of overtaking the insect. At the end of his journey, Benedict meets Hercules, who has been nearby all this time, hoping to somehow help his friends.
Rain in the village
In the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" rare and anomalous events often occur. The next thing is an uncharacteristically heavy and prolonged rain, which floods the fields and threatens to destroy the entire harvest.
Queen Muana calls the sorcerers for help. Hercules catches one of these elders in the forest. Taking his clothes, she pretends to be a mute shaman driving away clouds. He takes the queen by the hand and persistently leads her to Alvets’s 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 those accompanying him does Hercules reveal himself to Mrs. Weldon and her son. Here they meet Dick, who was also saved by Hercules, as well as Benedict and the dog Dingo. In conclusion, only the blacks remain, who have already been sold and driven away 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. They go down the river on their boat.
Soon they encounter a village of cannibals. But thanks to the fact that their boat was disguised as a floating island, they manage to sail past.
During the next stop, Dingo, as soon as he finds himself on the shore, rushes forward, sensing someone's trail. He leads them to a hut with human bones scattered throughout. 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 takes off and grabs the throat of the sneaking Negoro. Before sailing to America, he decided to return to the crime scene to retrieve the money stolen from Vernon from the cache. Negoro wounds the dog with a knife, and he dies, unable to avenge his owner. But Negoro still cannot escape fair punishment.
Meeting with the savages
But this is not all the tests for the characters in the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain.” In the summary it is necessary to mention the episode of the meeting with the 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 pursuing them overland. They noticed the 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 straight into his boat. She is rapidly carried towards the waterfall. All the savages die, and only the 15-year-old captain escapes 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 completed his courses and became captain of one of Weldon's schooners.
Both Hercules and the blacks, who manage to be redeemed from slavery and freed, remain a friend of the family. The novel ends with the date November 15, 1877. It is then that four blacks, who have endured so many dangers, finally find themselves in the friendly arms of the Weldons.
On January 29, 1873, the schooner brig Pilgrim, equipped for whaling, set 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 Sand, 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 black nanny Nan. The sailboat is on its way to San Francisco with a call at Valparaiso. After a few days of sailing, little Jack notices the Waldeck ship overturned 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 blacks: Tom, a sixty-year-old man, his son Bath, Austin, Actaeon and Hercules are free citizens of the United States. Having completed their contract work on the plantations 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 transported aboard the Pilgrim, and after a few days of careful care they fully regain their strength. Dingo, according to them, was picked up by the captain of the Waldeck 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, who apparently recognized him.
A few days later, Captain Gul and five sailors, who dared to go on a boat to catch a whale that they spotted a few miles from the ship, die. Dick Sand, who remained on the ship, takes over the functions of captain. The blacks are trying to learn the sailor's craft under his leadership. For all his courage and inner maturity, Dick does not have all the knowledge of navigation and can only navigate the ocean using a compass and a lot that measures the speed of movement. He doesn’t know how to find a location by the stars, which is what Negoro uses. He breaks one compass and, unnoticed by everyone, changes the readings of the second. Then it disables the lot. His machinations contribute to the fact that instead of America, the ship arrives at the shores of Angola and is thrown ashore. All travelers are safe. Negoro quietly leaves them and goes in an unknown direction. After some time, Dick Sand, who went in search of some settlement, meets the American Harris, who, being in cahoots with Negoro, his old acquaintance, and assuring that the travelers are on the shores of Bolivia, lures them a hundred miles into the tropical forest, promising shelter and care at his brother's hacienda. Over time, Dick Sand 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 is from, sentenced him to lifelong hard labor for such activities. After staying on it for two weeks, Negoro ran away, 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 to hope. Not far from the place where he meets Harris, there is a caravan of slaves that is going to the fair in Kazonda, led by one of their acquaintances. The caravan is camped ten miles from the travelers' location, on the banks of the Kwanzaa River. Knowing Dick Sand, 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 plan to capture them. Having discovered Harris's disappearance, Dick realizes that there has been a betrayal and decides to follow 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 the thunderstorm. However, having got out of there, they are immediately captured. The blacks, Nan and Dick are added to the caravan, Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon and her son and cousin Benedict are taken away in an unspecified direction. During the journey, Dick and his black friends have to endure all the hardships of traveling with a caravan of slaves and witness the brutal treatment of slaves by soldier guards and overseers. Unable to withstand this transition, old Nan dies along the way.
The caravan arrives at Kazonde, where the slaves are distributed among barracks. Dick Sand accidentally meets Harris and, after Harris, deceiving him, reports the death of Mrs. Weldon and her son, in despair he snatches a dagger from his belt and kills him. The next day there is to be a slave fair. Negoro, who saw from afar the scene of the death of his friend, asks permission from Alvets, the owner of the slave caravan and a very influential person in Kazonda, as well as from Muani-Lung, the local king, for permission to execute Dick after the fair. Alvets promises Muani-Lung, who is unable to go without alcohol for a long time, a drop of fire water for every drop of a white man’s blood. He prepares a strong punch, sets it on fire, and when Muani-Lung drinks it, his completely alcohol-soaked body suddenly catches fire and the king rots to the very bones. His first wife, Queen Muana, 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.
Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict, meanwhile, also live in Kazonda outside the fence of the Alvets trading post. 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, he leaves for San Francisco. One day, Cousin Benedict, an avid insect collector, is chasing a particularly rare ground beetle. Chasing her, he, unbeknownst to himself, breaks free through a mole hole running under the walls of the fence and runs two miles through the forest in the hope of catching 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 the nearby fields and threatens to leave the residents without a harvest. Queen Muana invites sorcerers to the village so that they can drive away the clouds. Hercules, having caught one of these sorcerers in the forest and dressed 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 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 gives in to the onslaught of savages and is forced to release the hostages. Having walked eight miles and finally freed from the last curious villagers, Hercules lowers Mrs. Weldon and Jack into the boat, where they are amazed to discover that the sorcerer and Hercules are one person, see Dick Sand, saved from death by Hercules, cousin Benedict and Dingo. The only things missing are Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin, who had previously been sold into slavery and driven away from the village. 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 goes ashore to hunt. After a few days of travel, the boat sails past a cannibal village located on the right bank. The savages discover that it is not an island, but a boat with people, floating along the river after it is already far ahead. Unnoticed by the travelers, the savages along the shore follow the boat in the hope of prey. A few days later, the boat stops on the left bank so as not to be pulled into the waterfall. The dingo, as soon as it jumps onto the shore, rushes forward, as if sensing someone’s scent. Travelers come across a small shack in which already whitened human bones are scattered. Nearby, on a tree, two letters “S” are written in blood. IN.". These are the same letters that are engraved on Dingo's collar. Nearby is a note in which its author, 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 ship to America, returned to the scene of his crime to get from the cache the money he had stolen from Vernon. Dingo, whom Negoro stabs before dying, dies. But Negoro himself cannot escape retribution. Fearing Negoro's companions on the left bank, Dick crosses over to the right bank for reconnaissance. There, arrows fly at him, and ten savages from the village of cannibals jump into his boat. Dick shoots the oar, and the boat is carried towards the waterfall. The savages die in it, but Dick, who took refuge in a boat, manages to escape. Soon the travelers reach the ocean, and then, without incident, on August 25 they arrive in California. Dick Sand becomes a son in the Weldon family, by the age of eighteen he completes hydrographic courses and prepares to become a captain on one of James Weldon's ships. Hercules becomes a great friend of the family. Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin are redeemed by Mr. Weldon from slavery, and on November 15, 1877, four blacks, freed from so many dangers, find themselves in the friendly arms of the Weldons.
6TH GRADE
JULES VERNE
FIFTEEN YEAR OLD CAPTAIN
(Summary)
Part one
Sections I - VI
On February 2, 1873, the schooner-brig "Pilgrim" was located at 43" 37" south latitude and 165° 19" west longitude (from the Greenwich meridian). On board the schooner, which was equipped for whaling, were the brave Captain Hull, five sailors, fifteen-year-old orphan Dick Sand, the ship's cook Negoro, as well as the wife of the schooner's owner - Mrs. Weldon with her five-year-old son Jack, their relative - the naturalist cousin Benedict, and the black nanny Nun. For several days, the Pilgrim was moving towards San Francisco, when suddenly little Jack. I saw a ship that had been wrecked. Swimming closer, the sailors noticed five blacks and a dog, Dingo, on the ship. The sailors took the victim on board their schooner, and in a few days they completely recovered. However, a strange circumstance was striking: the dog growled at Negoro. recognized him, even tried to rush in. Therefore, the cook decided not to appear in front of him. By the way, it turned out that the dog could read, or rather form letters, and he made up the inscription “S. IN.". Therefore, he must have an owner who taught him this.
Sections VII - XVIII
One day, Captain Hull and five sailors set out to catch whales. But they do not return, having died during the hunt. The responsibilities of captain are taken on by fifteen-year-old cabin boy Dick Sand. The guy is trying to teach the blacks how to sail. However, he himself also knows a little. This is exactly what Negoro takes advantage of. Thanks to some manipulations with compasses and lots, he directs the ship not to America, but to Angola. The ship washes ashore. Fortunately, everyone remains unharmed. And Negoro disappears somewhere. Dick Sand goes in search of some settlement. He meets Negoro's accomplice, the American Harris. He assures the guy that they are in Bolivia and invites him to his brother’s place, where the sailors will find housing and care. After some time, Dick Sand and the black Tom begin to realize that they are in Africa. Africa! Country of slave traders and slaves!
Part two
Sections i-IX
From a conversation between Harris and Negoro, friends learn that these two are engaged in human trafficking. This is confirmed by the chains found in Harpica. Realizing that he has been exposed, the slave trader runs away. He only slightly did not bring the detachment to the place where, in agreement with Negoro, they were supposed to attack him.
Dick Sand and his friends decide to walk along the shore to some big river. On the way they are overtaken by a storm. The travelers hide in a large anthill, but after the storm ends they fall into the hands of the natives. Blacks, Dick and Nun are added to the slave caravan. Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict are taken to an unknown location. Old Nun, unable to withstand the difficult journey, dies.
Sections X - XVII
In Kazonda, where the caravan arrives, Dick meets Harris. He reports that Mrs. Weldon and her son allegedly died. The guy, in despair, snatches the dagger from the slave trader’s hands and kills him. Negoro asks local influential people for permission to execute Dick. Alvets, the owner of the slave caravan, prepares punch. He sets it on fire and presents it to Muani-Lung, the local king. Muani-Lung's body, soaked through with large amounts of alcohol, bursts into flames. His first wife, Queen Muana, arranges a funeral, during which the other wives of the ruler are thrown into the pit, where Dick is already located, sentenced to death.
At this time, the prisoners Mrs. Weldon and her son live behind the fence of the Alvets trading post. Negoro hopes to receive a large ransom for them. Cousin Benedict, hunting for a rare ground beetle, suddenly finds himself behind a fence. There he meets Hercules, who was nearby all the time, hoping to somehow save his friends.
A terrible downpour begins in the village. The queen calls the sorcerers and asks them to disperse the clouds. Hercules, having captured one of those magicians, dresses in his clothes and goes to the village. He says that the white woman and her child are to blame for everything, and then takes the prisoners with him. When he puts Mrs. Weldon and her son into the boat, the woman sees the rescued Dick Sand, cousin of Benedict and Dingo.
Sections XI-XX
On a boat disguised as a small island, friends go to the ocean. A few days later they land on the shore. The dog rushes onto land as if sensing something. Having gone to get her, the friends know that they receive a note signed “S. IN." These are the same letters indicated on the Dingo's collar. Traveler Samuel Vernoy tells how his guide, Negoro, wounded and robbed him.
Suddenly, friends see Dingo take off and, with a wild growl, dive into the throat of Negoro, who came to the crime scene with the loot. The slave trader stabs the dog and the dog dies. But Negoro himself also dies. Travelers move on - and on August 25 they reach California.
The Weldon family adopts Dick, he completes hydrographic courses and prepares to become a captain on one of James Weldon's ships. Hercules becomes a close family friend. Weldon redeems the other four blacks from slavery.
The schooner "Pilgrim" moves towards San Francisco. There are a lot of people on board, among them Captain Gul, five experienced sailors, a fifteen-year-old junior sailor - orphan Dick Sand, 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 called “Cousin Benedict”, and the old black nanny Nun.
On the way, they pick up five emaciated blacks: Tom, Bath, Austin, Actaeon and Hercules and the dog Dingo. Their boat collided with another vessel, leaving their vessel disabled. The sailors from the Pilgrim were leaving these people, and for some reason Dingo, when he saw the cook Negoro, showed a grin, as if he knew him.
After some time, Captain Gal and five other sailors die while hunting for a whale. A fifteen-year-old boy, Dick Sand, dares to take on the authority of captain of the Pilgrim. But due to his inability to use navigation, the ship lands not in America, but in Africa, which the guy is unaware of.
Cook Negoro disappears unnoticed by everyone when the ship washes ashore. As it turned out later, he enters into a conspiracy with his old acquaintance Harris. It consisted of Harris telling the arriving sailors that they were on the shores of Bolivia, although they were in Africa.
As it turned out, Negoro and Harris knew each other a long time ago, when Negoro was involved in the slave trade. Cook was sentenced to life in hard labor, but he was able to escape and got a job on the brig Pilgrim.
Harris led the sailors deep into the tropical forest, but the deceived began to realize that they were far from America; they realized that Africa was around them. Dick Sand regards the disappearance of Harris as a betrayal, who disappeared from Negoro, in turn, wants to capture Dick Sand, the blacks, Nun, Mrs. Weldon and her son, as well as cousin Benedict.
Dick Sand and his men decide to cross the river on a raft, but the river unexpectedly overflows its banks and the travelers are forced to hide in a termite mound. But when they left there, the blacks, Dick and Nun were taken captive by the leader of the slave caravan, who was an acquaintance of Harris, Mrs. Weldon and her son were taken to an unknown location. Later, Nun dies, unable to withstand crossing the camp, and Dick, having heard from Harris that Mrs. Weldon and her son had died, kills him, but Dick did not know that it was a lie. Negoro, in turn, wants to take revenge on Dick for his friend, so he asks permission to kill Dick Send from Alvets, the owner of the slave caravan and a very influential person in Kazonda, as well as from Muani-Lung, the local king. Later, Muani-Lunga burns to the ground after drinking the punch that Alvets prepared for him.
Dick is about to be executed. On the day of Muani-Lung's funeral, he is tied to a pole and suspended over a boiling pit, in which, according to tradition, all the wives lie, except the one who arranged the funeral.
At this moment, Mrs. Weldon, her son and cousin Benedict are being held hostage by Negoro, who wants to obtain a large ransom for them from Mr. Weldon. But this intention is not destined to come true.
Negoro travels to San Francisco and leaves the hostages under the care of Alvets. Cousin Benedict was very fond of insects, and when he enthusiastically ran after one of the flying specimens, he suddenly found himself free. There he meets Hercules, who was able to escape before his brothers were captured. Hercules figures out how to help his friends and brothers. When there were long rains in the village, the wife of the deceased Muani-Lunga, Queen Muana, calls the sorcerer, who pretends to be Hercules. The guy, supposedly a mute sorcerer, shows with signs that the prisoners are the culprits of the rains. In general, he saved Dick Sand from death, Mrs. Weldon, her son, cousin Benidict and the dog Dingo, but he could not save his brothers, since they were sold into slavery. Then all the surviving prisoners go on a boat disguised as a floating island, go down the river, but it turns out that they pass the island of cannibals. Travelers stop on the opposite bank to avoid falling into the waterfall. There they discover human bones, a note and an inscription in blood on a tree: “S. IN.". Suddenly Dingo takes off from his place, and a human scream was heard nearby. The dog grabbed the throat of Negoro, who once killed Dingo's owner Samuel Vernon, and now came to take the money hidden in the cache, after which he wanted to leave for America. Negoro kills the dog with a knife, and he himself dies from the bite.
The travelers go to the island of cannibals so as not to meet any of Negoro's friends. But on the island, the survivors are attacked by cannibals. But the latter die due to a shot oar. The travelers reach the ocean and soon find themselves home.
Dick Sand completed his hydrographic courses and became the captain of James Weldon's ship; he is considered a son in this family, and Hercules is a friend. His relatives were ransomed from captivity, and now they are the most invited guests in Weldon’s house.
