Summary
This story is written by H.G. Wells, an English novelist. It is a story of suspense and thrill (pleasure/adventure) in which two men who go to search for Spanish treasure (wealth), meet a tragic end. As the story moves ahead it shows how power and greed corrupt human beings. The main message of the story is not to take risk when we are not prepared to something.
The story begins with two characters Evans and Hooker who were heading towards a coral island on a canoe (boat) in search of Spanish treasure. Meanwhile Hooker is studying a map of the treasures, which the narrator reveals they have stolen from a China man, Chang-hi, whom they murdered during the theft. In fact Chang hi had by chance discovered the treasure left behind by a shipwreck a Spanish galleon (ship) and decided to rebury it elsewhere revealed by his map. They are very much tired and hungry having travelled day and night without having anything. When they see the map they get puzzled by the dashes shown on the map. However they identify the spot indicated on the map. After that they reach to the interior (center) of the island through the forest.
As Hooker is sailing the boat, Evans falls asleep and sees a little fire with three Chinese people sitting around it in his dream. They were talking about the Spanish treasure which a Chinese man Chang-hi had got after being shipwrecked and he
wanted to take those treasures away from there. They murder Chang-hi, a Chinese man brutally and steal the treasure map. When Chan –hi gets murdered, he grins at them. However neither of them understands the intention behind it. Meanwhile he wakes up and they follow the map and soon discover a forest, then a pile of stones just like the map. At the same time they also see a man’s corpse full of bruises (damages) laid beside the purple and swollen body, which they assume is Chan hi’s worker who decided to take advantage by himself seeing the dug hole and some gold. Evans sees the dug hole and he also finds gold ingots (piece of metal) in the hole and takes them out, puts them in his jacket. On the other hand Hooker is totally confused at how it has happened here. He in fact wants to know the cause behind this death. As they start moving from there Evans feels he is pricked by thorn and he can’t walk further. His friend Hooker wants to help him but Evans says him not to touch him and he dies. When Hooker pulls the jacket full of gold ingots, he gets pricked by the thorn. Meanwhile he understands the grin of Chang – hi.
In fact Chang –hi had covered the ingots with thorns full of lethal (fatal) poison. As he tries to suck his finger, it is already late. He feels a strange pain in his body and eventually he dies. The story ends with Hooker dying next to the corpse of his friend. Here lesson of the story is greed kills people.
