Western Historical Manuscript Collection: There are no materials for this story. The story is attributed to Ryerson Johnson.
This story has much in common with the 1932 movie version of The Most Dangerous Game. Both stories make a play with shark infested water, channel markers that are in the wrong place. In each story the playing of the piano by the Count is a foretelling of death.
The use of poisonous centipedes in the first part of the story is unusual. Attacks using poisonous insects and vermin are more at home in the Fu Manchu stories by Sax Rohmer. There are rumors of the Galapagos Islands giant centipede growing as long as 24 inches.
The adventure largely takes place on an unnamed island in the Galapagos archipelago.
The Canal Zone is used as a refueling point.
Doc’s plane flies over Cocos Island on their way to the Galapagos. A small point is made referring to a treasure hunting expedition on the island. Cocos Island has been the focus of countless treasure hunting expeditions. It is the supposed hiding place of the treasure of the pirate Benito Bonito. An even bigger hoard, the Treasure of Lima, is purported hidden there.
The lizards in the story are described as iguanas. However their behavior is more in line with that of the Komodo dragon.
Wild pigs figure into the story. These are peccaries and are different from wild boars. The smaller size goes in line with Bergmann’s Rule which associates smaller size with closeness to the equator.
Doc and his men encounter a trap on a jungle trail
whereby a knife is attached to a branch and tied back with a thread. Once it is broken it will stab the person
waling on the trail. It is one of the
same devices used in the movie.
A later book, Holes (1998) by Louis Sachar incorporates the idea of digging holes in a dry lakebed seeking a lost treasure.
December 9, 1935 – The Curtiss SBC Helldiver makes its first flight.
December 28, 1935 – Movies: Captain Blood opens.
