Foreign literature abridged. All works of the school curriculum in a brief summary. Fifteen-year-old captain, Verne Jules Jules Verne 15-year-old captain summary
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!
The novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” by Verne was written in 1878. This is a story about the exciting adventures of a young sailor who took responsibility for the fate of the crew of the whaling ship Pilgrim.
Main characters
Dick Sand- a fifteen-year-old sailor, a brave and determined young man.
Mrs. Weldon- the wife of the ship owner, a brave, persistent woman.
Jack- Mrs. Weldon's little son.
Benedict- Mrs. Weldon's cousin, a passionate entomologist.
Tom, Bath, Hercules, Austin, Actaeon- blacks rescued from a sunken ship.
Negoro- a slave trader hiding from the authorities, a vile and cruel person.
Other characters
Nan- Jack's elderly nanny.
James Weldon- a wealthy shipowner.
Captain Gul- Captain of the whaling ship "Pilgrim".
Harris- slave trader, accomplice of Negoro.
Antonio Alvetz- owner of a slave caravan.
Muani-Lunga- old king Kazonde.
Muana- Muani-Lunga's first wife, Queen Kasonde.
Summary
Part one
Chapter 1. Schooner-brig "Pilgrim"
In February 1973, the Pilgrim "was equipped in San Francisco for a whale hunt in the South Seas." It belonged to “the wealthy Californian shipowner James Weldon,” who entrusted the command of his schooner to Captain Gul. Under the command of the captain “there were five experienced sailors and one newcomer.” In addition, he was forced to take on board passengers - Mrs. Weldon, her five-year-old son Jack and cousin Benedict, the old black nanny Nan.
Chapter 2. Dick Sand
All the sailors of the Pilgrim “knew each other for a long time” and got along well with each other, and only the Portuguese Negoro did not really like the captain, who “did not have time to make inquiries about the past of the new cook.”
The youngest and most inexperienced sailor on the ship was a fifteen-year-old orphan boy, Dick Sand. But, despite his age, he was distinguished by his intelligence and courage, and “was already able to make decisions and bring to the end everything that he had deliberately decided on.”
Chapter 3. Wrecked ship
After several days of sailing, the crew of the Pilgrim noticed a “vessel overturned on its side” with a hole in the bow. Captain Gul decided to explore it, and on board the sunken ship the sailors found five blacks and a dog dying of thirst.
Chapter 4. Rescued from the Waldeck
The unfortunates were transferred aboard the Pilgrim, where they received proper care. It turned out that the blacks - old Tom, his son Bath, as well as Hercules, Austin and Actaeon - were not slaves, but free citizens of America. Their ship was struck by some unknown ship and disappeared.
Chapter 5. “C” and “B”
Another creature rescued from the sinking ship was a large dog named Dingo, whose collar was engraved with two letters - "C" and "B". “Dingo soon became the favorite of the whole crew,” and only Negoro he hated fiercely for an unknown reason. The cook tried not to show himself to the dog, who apparently recognized him.
Chapter 6. Whale on the horizon
After some time, the sailor on watch noticed a whale on the horizon. It was “a very large specimen of minke whale.” The sailors began to lively discuss their future prey - “the whole crew passionately wanted to hunt.”
Chapter 7. Preparations for the hunt
Despite the great risk, the whalers could not miss the opportunity to catch a giant sea animal and “fill the hold of the ship - the temptation was great.” Together with five sailors, he boarded the boat, leaving Dick Sand “as his deputy for the duration of the hunt.”
Chapter 8. Stripe
Experienced whalers began to hunt minke whales. They managed to wound him with a harpoon, but the unexpectedly wounded whale, “hitting the water with force with its fins, rushed at the people.” The enraged whale crushed the boat with a powerful blow of its tail and “in its death throes, furiously beat its tail on the water” - none of the whalers managed to survive.
Chapter 9. Captain Sand
“A ship that has lost its captain and sailors” could easily become a weak-willed toy of currents and winds. Of the entire crew, only fifteen-year-old Dick Sand remained alive, and “this boy was now supposed to replace the captain, the boatswain, and the entire crew.” The young man decided to take on the functions of captain and teach the sailor craft to the rescued blacks. They happily agreed to help him.
Chapter 10. The next four days
Everyone had one desire - to quickly get to “some other port on the American coast.” Dick knew how to use a compass and a lot, but “the young captain did not yet know how to make astronomical observations” that influenced the location of the ship. Suddenly, “there was a problem with the compass that was in the captain’s cabin” - it fell off the hook and fell to the floor. There was still one more compass left to work, but the insidious Negoro also spoiled it - so the “Pilgrim” strayed from the intended course.
Chapter 11. Storm
A week later, the sky became cloudy, a strong wind rose - everything foreshadowed the beginning of a storm. “The ship held up well in the waves” and continued to move forward confidently. Thanks to the efforts of Negoro, the lot was disabled, and “Dick Sand lost the ability to determine the speed of the ship.”
Chapter 12. Island on the horizon
On the same day, “a hurricane, the most terrible form of storm, broke out,” and did not stop for a week. According to Dick's calculations, they should have already reached the shores of America. He became more and more confident that the navigation instruments had been deliberately damaged by someone. Suddenly, the outline of land appeared overboard - it was an island.
Chapter 13. “Earth! Earth!"
Dick was sure that they had seen Easter Island, and he directed the ship along the correct course, as it seemed to him. Soon everyone noticed land, but there was “no human habitation, no port, no river mouth where the ship could find a safe refuge.” At the sight of the shore, Dingo “howled long and plaintively.”
Chapter 14. What to do?
After seventy-four days of sailing, the Pilgrim was thrown ashore and smashed on the reefs. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Dick Sand could not understand where they ended up. Meanwhile, Negoro quietly left the detachment, hiding in the thicket of the forest. It soon became clear that he was the first to arrive on the destroyed ship and seized all of Mrs. Weldon's money.
Chapter 15. Harris
After some time, the heroes met an American named Harris. He assured the travelers that they had been shipwrecked off the coast of Bolivia. Mr. Harris suggested that they take a break from the unrest at his brother's hacienda, which required crossing the rainforest.
Chapter 16. On the road
Having collected food supplies and necessary things, the small detachment set off. This transition was especially interesting for cousin Benedict, an entomologist, who began to enthusiastically study local insects.
Chapter 17. One Hundred Miles in Ten Days
Dick and his dark-skinned friends were surprised that during the hike they did not meet a single familiar tree or animal, but Mr. Garris managed to dispel their doubts. When Cousin Benedict cried out in pain at night, he found out that he had been bitten by a tsetse fly. The entomologist was very pleased with his discovery, since “not a single scientist has ever found tsetse in America.”
Chapter 18. Terrible word
The detachment made its way through the forest for twelve days, covering over a hundred miles during this time. Gradually, Dick began to discover the truth, “which became more and more clear and undeniable every hour” - they were in equatorial Africa, a country of “slave traders and slaves.”
Part two
Chapter 1. Slave trade
The Pilgrim crashed off the coast of Angola. This was one of the most dangerous regions of Equatorial Africa, where cannibalistic savages still lived, local tribes were constantly at odds, but the worst thing was that the slave trade was in full swing here.
Chapter 2. Harris and Negoro
Harris, who had left the detachment by that time, met with Negoro. From their conversation it became clear that these were old friends who lived in the slave trade. They agreed to wait for the slave caravan “to capture Dick Sand and his companions.”
Chapter 3. A Hundred Miles from the Shore
Dick Sand realized that Negoro was the culprit of their troubles, and Harris was his accomplice. Only one thing remained unclear - “what are these scoundrels up to?” The young man planned to return to the coast as quickly as possible and “and reach the nearest Portuguese trading post,” where they would be safe. To do this, it was necessary to find a river and go down to the ocean on a raft.
Chapter 4. Along the difficult roads of Angola
On the way, the friends were overtaken by a terrible thunderstorm and heavy rain. They managed to hide from bad weather in an empty termite mound.
Chapter 5. Lecture on termites given in a termite mound
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cousin Benedict gave his friends an informative lecture about the builders of this impressive structure - termites.
Chapter 6. Diving bell
At night, water began to flow into the termite mound - “due to heavy rain, the river overflowed its banks and overflowed across the plain.” Dick compared their shelter to a diving bell, in which the air is under high pressure. To escape, the friends cut through the top of the termite mound and got out to freedom.
Chapter 7. Camp on the shores of Kwanzaa
Noticing a native camp nearby, the friends hurried towards them. However, this was a slave caravan, driving slaves to “the main market for black goods.” Once in the camp, “Dick Sand and his companions immediately turned into slaves.” Mrs. Weldon, Jack and cousin Benedict were immediately separated, Dick was disarmed and taken under guard, and the blacks were added to the caravan.
Chapter 8. From Dick Sand's notebook
The strong man Hercules miraculously managed to escape, and his friends, shackled, were jealous of him - “he was free and could fight for his life.” Dick was entirely occupied with thoughts of Mrs. Weldon and little Jack. Old lady Nan was among the exhausted slaves who were hacked to death with axes.
Chapter 9. Kasonde
Only “half of the total number of captured slaves” reached Kazonda, the largest slave market. The slaves were distributed among cramped barracks. The owner of the caravan, Antonio Alvets, was especially pleased with the young and strong blacks from America - he could demand a high price for them. From Harris, Dick learned about the death of Mrs. Weldon and Jack. “In a fit of uncontrollable anger,” the young man killed the traitor.
Chapter 10. Fair
Alvets wanted to immediately execute Dick, but Negoro asked him to be patient for a while. On the day of the fair in Kazonda, Alvets brought out all his slaves for sale. Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin were very lucky, and “they were sold into one hand.”
Chapter 11. Royal Punch
In the midst of the fair, “His Majesty Muani-Lunga, King of Kazonde” appeared, looking more like a decrepit gorilla. He was accompanied by numerous wives and a retinue of flatterers. Alvets, knowing about the local king’s addiction to alcohol, invited him to drink a strong punch. When the old drunkard drank the flaming drink, “his majesty, thoroughly intoxicated, burst into flames” and died on the spot.
Chapter 12. The King's Funeral
Muani-Lung's first wife, "Queen Muana was to inherit the royal throne." She hastened to organize her husband's funeral and consolidate her position. A large pit was dug, where, according to the old tradition, the remaining wives of the king were thrown. According to Negoro's plan, the tied Dick was to be thrown there, and then the pit was to be flooded with water.
Chapter 13. At the trading post
Harris lied that Mrs. Weldon, Jack and Cousin Benedict were dead - they were in Kazonda, alive and unharmed. Negoro placed them at the Alvets trading post in the hope of receiving a large ransom for them. He told Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her husband, with whom he was going to San Francisco.
Chapter 14. News of Doctor Livingston
Having accidentally overheard Alvetz's conversation with his guest, Mrs. Weldon learned that “perhaps help is approaching, which seems to be sent by Providence itself.” The famous traveler Dr. Livingstone "will probably arrive at Kazonda with his escort in the next few days." However, these plans were not destined to come true - the doctor died on the eve of his visit.
Chapter 15. Where the manticore can lead
Having received a letter from Mrs. Weldon, Negoro set off. Meanwhile, Benedict, who had been freely hunting for insects all this time, in pursuit of a rare ground beetle, found himself outside the walls of the trading post. Unbeknownst to himself, he traveled a couple of miles in the hope of catching an insect.
Chapter 16. Mgannga
A period of prolonged rains began, threatening to flood all the fields. Queen Muana decided to seek help from Mgannga, a famous sorcerer from Northern Angola. It turned out to be Hercules in disguise, who made it clear to the queen that the white woman and her child were to blame for all the troubles. He took them with him, and even Alvets could not stop him from doing this.
Chapter 17. Downstream
Hercules brought his “trophies” to the boat, where Dick Sand, Benedict and Dingo, whom he had saved, were located. All that was missing were Tom, Bath, Austin and Actaeon, who were driven out of the village towards the Great Lakes. Having disguised the boat as a floating island, the friends began to go down “down the river to the ocean coast.”
Chapter 18. Miscellaneous Events
During their rafting, travelers occasionally went ashore to hunt. The area seemed uninhabited, but one day they sailed past the village, and it was only by miracle that the savages did not notice them. The friends were forced to moor to the shore as the river rushed down in a “rapid, majestic waterfall.”
Chapter 19. “S. IN."
As soon as he was on the shore, Dingo rushed forward, picking up someone's trail. A smart dog led travelers to a miserable shack in which human bones lay. Nearby on the tree were visible “two large half-erased red letters” - S. V. Dick found out that the deceased was the traveler Samuel Vernon, who became a victim of the treacherous guide Negoro.
Suddenly, “a terrible scream was heard from outside” - it was Dingo who attacked Negoro, who, before sailing, returned to the scene of his crime to take Vernon’s money from his hiding place. Negoro mortally wounded the dog, but he “squeezed his jaws with all his might” and gnawed the throat of his old enemy.
Chapter 20. Conclusion
A real gift of fate for travelers was a meeting with a trade caravan that belonged to Portuguese merchants. In complete safety they reached the port, where they boarded a ship and arrived safely in America. Dick Sand became Weldon's adopted son, and Hercules became a great friend of the family. The young man “graduated with honors from hydrographic courses” and was preparing to become a captain. The general joy was overshadowed only by thoughts of the bitter fate of dark-skinned friends. However, thanks to Mr. Weldon's connections, all four blacks were returned to their homeland.
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 suddenly 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 prisoner 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, and a human scream is 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 hydrographic courses and became 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.
70s of the 19th century. The schooner Pilgrim, designed for whale fighting, leaves one of the New Zealand ports. The ship, captained by Captain Gul, has five experienced crew members and young Dick Sand, who serves as a junior sailor on the ship.
The boy is only 15 years old, he is an orphan, but he is diligently mastering the profession of a sailor, and the captain is usually pleased with him. This time, Mrs. Weldon, the wife of the schooner's owner, her little son Jack and a strange, eccentric relative of the woman named Benedict are also following home with the Pilgrim. For everyone who is on the schooner, food is prepared by the cook of Portuguese origin, Negoro, a reserved and gloomy person, although he copes well with his duties.
Soon after departure, the sailors notice a ship nearby that is clearly wrecked. In the hold of this ship, the sailors discover five people with black skin, who have already reached the maximum degree of exhaustion, the eldest of whom is Tom. It is this old man who tells the story of his comrades; they happened to work for hire in New Zealand for some time. Upon returning home to the American continent, their ship survived a collision with another ship, its entire crew disappeared, and only a dog named Dingo remained with the dark-skinned Americans. Thus, new passengers appear on the Pilgrim, to whom everyone is very warm and friendly, but for some reason the dog always wants to bite Negoro, and the cook prefers not to encounter it at all.
After a few days of peaceful and calm sailing, a real disaster occurs. Captain Gul and all the sailors die while chasing a whale; Dick Sand is forced to take full responsibility for those remaining on the schooner, although the guy does not yet have all the knowledge and skills necessary for this. However, his dark-skinned comrades in misfortune are eager to help him in every possible way, and Dick firmly believes that he can lead the ship to the right place.
However, the unprincipled cook Negoro, who makes his own plans, takes advantage of the young captain’s inexperience in the most dishonest way. He disables the compasses, and as a result, the Pilgrim lands not on the American, but on the African coast, although none of those who disembarked from the ship suspect this. The travelers meet a certain Mr. Garris, who invites them to his brother’s hacienda, where, according to him, they will certainly be provided with shelter and food, and subsequently will be helped to return home.
But in fact, Harris acts in collusion with the cunning Portuguese, being an equally hardened scoundrel. He cleverly lures naive travelers more than a hundred miles deep into the “dark” continent, but at this moment both Dick Sand and old Tom already irrefutably guess about the deception. Moreover, they are convinced that Harris is engaged in the slave trade; Negoro also earned his living in this dishonest trade for a long time, for which he was sentenced to lifelong hard labor. However, the Portuguese still managed to escape and got a job on the schooner Pilgrim, intending to return to Africa sooner or later, which happened thanks to Dick’s lack of professionalism.
The travelers' attempt to escape from the people who betrayed them is unsuccessful; they are immediately captured, and black Americans find themselves joining the slave caravan. Mrs. Weldon, her son and Uncle Benedict are separated from them, only the strongest and tallest guy from Tom's group named Hercules manages to escape.
When the caravan arrives in a fairly large city where the unfortunate slaves are put up for sale, Harris informs Sendu that members of the shipowner's family have died, although this is not true. Dick, in desperation, snatches the dagger from his enemy and immediately stabs him to death. Negoro asks the local king, who has almost lost his mind due to incessant drinking, to execute the young man, and he without hesitation gives the appropriate permission.
Meanwhile, the wife of the owner of "Pilgrim", her son and an elderly relative live in Kazonda as hostages. Negoro intends to receive a substantial ransom for them from Mrs. Weldon's husband, but the woman does not agree to his arrival in Africa, absolutely not trusting her dishonest jailer. It is the absent-minded Benedict, while chasing another exotic butterfly, who accidentally meets the dark-skinned Hercules, who has long been looking for a way to help his companions.
Having learned where Mrs. Weldon and her child are, Hercules, pretending to be a sorcerer, enters the trading post and makes it clear to the savages gathered around that he needs to take the white woman and her baby from there. After escaping, they find themselves in a boat, where the boy and his mother are surprised to see Dick, whom they also thought was dead. However, Hercules managed to save him from execution at the very last moment, when the young man had already lost all hope.
After some time, the boat stops at the shore, and the dog Dingo hurriedly runs to a certain place. It is discovered that it is here that the body of the traveler Vernon was once left, near which lies a note accusing Negoro, who was his guide, of having robbed and killed the explorer. At this moment the Portuguese himself appears, Dingo grabs the throat of the culprit of his master’s death. The villain kills the dog, but also dies.
Dick and his comrades, having eluded the aggressive locals, get to the ship, which takes them to California. After this, the Weldon family treats Send like their own son, and the young man continues to diligently study the sailor's craft in order to later take command of one of his adoptive father's ships. Mr. Weldon also eventually finds and redeems four black US citizens left in Africa from captivity, then they come to their friends who are impatiently waiting for them.
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.
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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 suddenly 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 prisoner 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, and a human scream is 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.
