The Quest
Summary
A gilded Manhattan gadabout, John Douglas, flees the chandeliered tedium of debutantes by stowing away on a rust-streaked tramp steamer bound eastward; the ocean, unimpressed, swallows the hull whole, leaving him the lone morsel of flotsam washed onto a forgotten atoll where alabaster-skinned islanders speak Elizabethan English. Nia, the chieftain’s harp-voiced daughter, plucks him from the surf; her betrothed, the bronze-chested Kaura, snarls at this pale rival. A sprint through breadfruit groves and over basalt ridges ends when lightning cleaves the usurper, divinely vetoing the pursuit. The lovers wed in a torch-lit cave; Nia’s fingers coax lullabies from a driftwood lyre until a white yacht’s silhouette slices the horizon, forcing John to choose between the perfumed cages of Mayfair and salt-stung Eden.
Synopsis
John Douglas, a high-society playboy, is a cynic concerning the women of his social set, and has a pictured ideal of the girl of his dreams. Wising to avoid the upcoming social season, he hops a freighter bound for the Orient. It sinks in mid-ocean and he, as the sole survivor, is washed upon a island, where he is rescued by Nia, daughter of the tribal chief, Neto.John is puzzled as all of the tribe are white people, but he learns from the tribal chief they are descendent's of English-origin who also are on the island because of a ship wreck a few hundred years ago. John soon arouses the jealousy of Kaura, the tribal sub-chief who wants Nia as his bride, but Nia wants nothing to do with Nia, and favors John. Kaura demand that Nia become his bride, but John Rescues her and they head for the jungle, with Kaura and his henchmen in hot pursuit. The pursuit only lasts until a storm comes up and Kuara is killed by a bolt of lightning, and his followers take that as a sign the Gods aren't in favor of the pursuit. John and Nia take up residence in the Tribal Priest's jungle cave, after the Tribal Chief performs a marriage ceremony. They are quite happy and content, especially Nia who likes to play the harp John made for her. But a yacht appears on the horizon, and John struggles with a decision as to light a signal fire and be taken back to civilization.
