In 1730, Patrick Spence is an American sea captain whose ship is sunk by pirates off the Barbary Coast. Spence is the only survivor. He’s picked up by a passing British vessel and taken to Algeria, where he finds himself broke and stranded, with no prospects of getting back to America.
He makes a friend, however, a British clergyman who is in Algeria to study
ancient ruins. For an elderly preacher, he proves to be surprisingly handy with
a sword, too, if that’s not too much of a spoiler, and I don’t think it is
since this is an H. Bedford-Jones historical swashbuckler and you know there’s
going to be a lot of swordplay.
At any rate, Spence and his friend Dr. Shaw soon find themselves up to their
necks in intrigue and danger as they get involved with a Moroccan nobleman
who’s trying to seize the throne of that country and a renegade Dutchman who is
also after the throne so that he can consolidate all the countries along the
Barbary Coast and promote a war with Spain. Everybody’s trying to get their
hands on a mysterious box that holds the key to the fate of empires. Oh, and
there’s a beautiful young Englishwoman in the mix, too.
DOWN THE COAST OF BARBARY is a short novel by H. Bedford-Jones first published
in the October 21, 1922 issue of ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY, more than 99 years
ago, but as always with Bedford-Jones, the prose is only slightly old-fashioned
and he keeps the action moving along at a very nice pace. The plotting is a
little too muddled here and there, making it difficult to keep up with
everybody’s motivations, and a bit too much happens off-screen, but the action
scenes (and there are plenty of them) are spectacular and Spence is a very
likable protagonist. This novel isn’t in the top rank of Bedford-Jones’ work,
but it’s a solid second-tier yarn and is well worth reading. I was entertained
from start to finish.
DOWN THE COAST OF BARBARY was reprinted in PULP ADVENTURES #24, published by
Bold Venture Press, and, being in the public domain, is also available on-line
here and there.
2 comments:
I think I enjoyed this novella even more than you. I got down my issue of Argosy to look at the story and I see my note indicates that I read it back in 1980 and enjoyed it a lot. I'm planning on rereading it soon. I've been reading several novelets by Bedford-Jones in Blue Book and he continues to impress me.
HB-J is one of the most consistently entertaining authors I've ever come across. I've enjoyed everything I've read by him.
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