Sinclair's Luck

Sinclair's Luck by Percy F. Westerman

Colin Sinclair’s final term at Stockmere ends unexpectedly when his father’s financial losses make further schooling impossible, while his close friend “Tiny” Desmond is found to have serious lung trouble. Dr. Narfield offers them both a new start as assistants to his brother, Colonel Herbert Narfield, a mining engineer at Kilembonga in East Africa. Sinclair’s passage is secretly paid, and the friends eagerly leave school. On the voyage to Cape Town they meet Piet Van der Wyck, an Afrikander who claims to have entered the secret country of the Makoh'lenga, a powerful and isolated people. He tells of being rescued by them during the War after a wound, allegedly gaining admission through a swastika tattoo. When he falls overboard at night, Colin leaps into the sea with a lifebuoy and saves him. In gratitude Van der Wyck gives Colin a gold-and-copper swastika amulet, warning him neither to sell it in Africa nor to meddle with Makoh'lenga secrets. After delays in Cape Town, Colin and Tiny travel by ship to Dar-es-Salaam and by train towards Tabora. Their train is held up by masked robbers, but the leader strangely leaves the boys’ possessions untouched. Suspicion falls on them until Wynyard, an assistant commissioner and former Stockmere boy, vouches for them. Colin suspects the robber may have been Van der Wyck, though later evidence makes this seem impossible. Colonel Narfield collects them at Tabora and drives them towards Kilembonga with McFrazer, his former batman. A burst tyre nearly sends their car over a precipice. Forced to camp, they are attacked by lions; Colin shoots a charging lion that threatens Tiny, but Narfield’s use of petrol creates a blaze that destroys the car. The travellers reach Sibenga’s Kraal, where Colin’s amulet terrifies the chief and his people into lending horses. At Kilembonga, Colin and Tiny settle into mining work, survey the Rubera Valley, and find that Tiny’s health rapidly improves. Sibenga later accuses Narfield of stealing horses, then becomes intimidated when Narfield uses an electrified bowl of water and the swastika to demonstrate “white man’s magic.” After a locust plague devastates the estate and Sibenga’s lands, a witch-doctor blames the white men. Sibenga’s warriors ambush Colin and Tiny during a ride. The friends break through a cordon, but their horses are killed or exhausted. Tenpenny Nail and Blue Fly, their loyal Haussa servants, rescue them with rifle fire. Sibenga then attacks Kilembonga itself, but Narfield’s defenders kill Sibenga and the witch-doctor and scatter the raiders. Wynyard arrives, accepts the tribe’s submission, and ensures compensation for the lost horses. An elderly farmer also named Piet Van der Wyck arrives after Narfield’s invitation is mistakenly sent to him rather than Colin’s shipboard acquaintance. He is hospitably received and helps hunt elephants that have attacked Sibenga’s people. During the hunt Narfield’s rifle fails while a bull elephant charges him. Colin fires an explosive cartridge, unknowingly taken from the wrong ammunition box, and kills the elephant just before it tramples Narfield. On the return from the hunt, Colin and Tiny lag behind the ivory bearers and are silently seized in the forest by men who drop nooses from the trees. Their horses return riderless, and every tracker concludes that the boys have somehow “gone up.” Wynyard’s search fails, but a witch-doctor says they are alive, held by warriors in the north-east, and names the Makoh'lenga. The captives are carried through the treetops and taken before disciplined Makoh'lenga warriors. Their chief searches them, finding Colin’s swastika. The amulet causes an outburst of celebration, and instead of executing the boys, the chief frees them, returns most of their possessions, and has them carried in litters. The Makoh'lenga march through a hidden route behind a waterfall and into a broad ancient tunnel, revealing the secret gateway to Makoh'lenga Land.

By Percy F. Westerman · First published 1917 · Genre: Adventure Fiction, Boys' Adventure Fiction, Juvenile Fiction · 34 chapters · 55,821 words

First lines

"MY last term, Tiny, old son," announced Sinclair dismally.

"What? Never! " replied "Tiny" Desmond, who, at the age of sixteen years and three months, had attained the height of six feet one inch. "Your last term at Stockmere? You're trying to pull my leg."

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juvenile fiction · adventure fiction · British literature · early twentieth-century fiction · maritime adventure · naval fiction · sea voyages · shipboard life · mystery · danger · courage · friendship

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Sinclair's Luck is listed on Textopian as a novel by Percy F. Westerman, dated 1917 CE.

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