Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Doc Savage’s Amazing Five are screening applicants for Doc’s aid at his office in the Empire State Building. First come an eccentric pair called Hanson and Harridan, sounding out the aides about a treasure hunting expedition to South America; they leave when told Doc does not accept cases involving personal gain. Second is a madman accusing his wife of numerous infidelities; he is ejected bodily. Third is Vesper Hope, an American missionary, accompanied by a Peruvian native Myrrana, with a tale of the latter’s tribe being victimized by a pair of white treasure seekers, who control giant animals of some sort. Doc arrives, accepts the case and outfits their zeppelin for an immediate departure. While boarding, the party is attacked by a gigantic moth, which Doc manages to decapitate with a concealed bandsaw, to the disappointment of its watching controllers, Hanson and Harridan. Arriving at a remote location in Peru, Doc and company battle giant flora and fauna, as well as Myrrana’s distrustful people. The native woman explains to her countrymen, who welcome Doc’s help and give the American party a tour of their idyllic arboreal civilization. Doc and his party dive into the sacrificial well, and when they surface, they discover an enormous supply of gold plus a hieroglyphic frieze relating the history of the creation of the Mayan people by alien gods, who judged their barbaric offspring a failed experiment and sought to wipe it out with radiation, which caused the current mutations. Meanwhile, back at the camp, Hanson and Harridan shoot Long Tom. Doc arrives in response to Renny’s call and saves Long Tom’s life with a new artificial heart valve. Fed up, Doc dons his vest and skullcap and heads out in search of the villains, running a gauntlet of mutated monsters, the last of which is Myrrana’s missing husband. To save Doc’s life, Myrrana is forced to kill her beloved with Ham’s sword-cane, allowing Doc to continue his pursuit of the villains. Hanson and Harridan are captured and marked for the Crime College, but Doc gives way to a moment of rage and punches their lights out. Doc and company choose to keep the peaceful jungle civilization a secret and Vesper returns to her mission among the lepers.
Issue also includes a text article:
"Johnny"
Writer: Bob Sampson; artist: Ed Davis.
A profile of Professor William Harper “Johnny” Littlejohn, of Doc’s aides.