Destiny's Drum trade paperbackISBN: 978-1-59212-321-6

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Destiny’s Drum

Discussion Guide

Destiny’s Drum Story Summary & Overview

Adventurer Phil Sheridan arrives on the remote island of Kamling and narrowly escapes execution by the corrupt José Emanuel Batista, known as Portuguese Joe. He joins outlaw mining engineer Sorry Kilton and his daughter Patsy, whose hidden gold has been stolen. With Portuguese Joe and rival island factions closing in, Sheridan uses marksmanship, deception, engineering knowledge and improvised “magic” to turn King Kobo against their enemies. After rescuing Kilton and Patsy, Sheridan reveals that Shanghai bankers framed both men and sent him to kill Kilton. The stolen gold is recovered, Portuguese Joe meets his end and Sheridan chooses a possible future with Patsy.

Historical Context: Southeast Asia Social and Cultural Context

Destiny’s Drum takes place in the islands of Southeast Asia during an era when European colonial authority, international commerce, mining and local political power could overlap in complicated ways. Kamling is presented as a remote place where official government authority has largely disappeared, allowing Portuguese Joe to establish himself as “governador” and exploit the inhabitants. The story contrasts several competing forms of power: colonial titles, local kingship, firearms, money, reputation and Sheridan’s ability to outthink his opponents.

The story also reflects the attitudes and conventions of adventure fiction from the period in which it was written. Its portrayals of Indigenous peoples, religion, race and colonial society include stereotypes. Those elements provide an opportunity to discuss how popular adventure literature can reveal the assumptions of the culture that produced it while still being examined for its storytelling, characters, moral conflicts and ideas.

Chapter One: To Face a Firing Squad?

  • Portuguese Joe presents himself as the legitimate governor of Kamling, but Sheridan quickly exposes his criminal past and questions the source of his authority. Discuss what actually makes a government legitimate. Is a title enough, or must authority also depend upon law, consent and responsible behavior?
  • Sheridan remains remarkably unconcerned when threatened with a firing squad. Discuss whether his apparent fearlessness gives him a psychological advantage over Portuguese Joe or causes him to take unnecessary risks.
  • Portuguese Joe offers Sheridan his freedom if he will kill a troublesome man, while hiding his real interest in the man’s gold and daughter. Discuss how people can disguise greed or self-interest as law, justice or public necessity.

Chapter Two: Wit Against Firearms

  • Facing execution, Sheridan turns Portuguese Joe’s pride in his soldiers into an opportunity for escape. Discuss how understanding an opponent’s personality can sometimes be more useful than physical strength or superior weapons.
  • Sheridan discovers evidence of forced labor and begins to understand why Portuguese Joe is so anxious to eliminate outsiders. Discuss why corrupt systems often depend upon secrecy and what happens when an outsider threatens to expose them.
  • King Kobo initially threatens Sheridan but quickly becomes interested in using his shooting ability against his own enemies. Compare Sheridan, Portuguese Joe, Aboo-Tabak and Kobo. How does each man view other people: as allies, subjects, tools, threats or something else?

Chapter Three: Sorry Kilton—Wanted in Shanghai

  • Patsy initially distrusts Sheridan, while Sheridan relies on confidence, humor and his knowledge of her father to persuade her to take him to the mine. Discuss how people decide whether to trust a stranger when they have incomplete information.
  • Sheridan and Sorry Kilton greet each other with guns despite having a shared history, but they soon begin cooperating. What does their encounter suggest about reputation, trust and friendship among people accustomed to living outside ordinary law?
  • Kilton is furious when he learns that Patsy escaped while Sheridan remained behind in danger. Discuss Kilton’s idea that he raised his daughter to be “a better gentleman.” What does this unusual expression suggest about his personal code of courage and responsibility?

Chapter Four: Portuguese Joe Scents Gold

  • Kilton explains that Shanghai bankers framed him after a failed mining venture threatened them financially. Discuss how powerful institutions can manipulate reputation and public information to protect themselves or shift responsibility to others.
  • Sheridan frightens Portuguese Joe into retreating by inventing a gruesome story rather than attacking him directly. Discuss whether deception can be justified when it prevents a larger violent confrontation.
  • Ringu betrays Kilton and reveals the location of the hidden gold, only to be killed afterward. Discuss why betrayal can create danger for the betrayer as well as the victim. What does Ringu’s fate suggest about alliances based entirely on self-interest?

Chapter Five: If They Can Use Kobo

  • Patsy argues that her father’s continuing search for wealth may really reflect his love of danger and fighting rather than financial necessity. Discuss how people can convince themselves they are pursuing one goal when a different motivation may actually be driving them.
  • Sheridan decides to approach King Kobo during the festival despite being warned that doing so could mean death. Discuss the difference between courage and recklessness. What makes a dangerous gamble reasonable or unreasonable?
  • Kilton considers remaining behind because his criminal reputation could endanger Patsy if they escape together. Discuss what his willingness to sacrifice his own freedom reveals about the difference between his public reputation and his character as a father.

Chapter Six: Triumph Turns to Ashes

  • Sheridan uses card tricks and hidden gunfire to convince Kobo that he possesses supernatural powers. Discuss the ethical difference between using deception to save lives and using it to control people.
  • Kobo interprets Sheridan’s tricks through his existing beliefs, while Sheridan understands the mechanical explanations behind them. Discuss how prior beliefs influence the way people interpret events they cannot immediately explain.
  • Patsy secretly helps Sheridan by shooting the medicine man when Sheridan is in danger. How has their relationship changed since Kilton criticized her for leaving Sheridan behind earlier? Discuss whether her action is motivated by duty, affection, courage or some combination of the three.

Chapter Seven: Holy Ben Gets a Warning

  • After discovering Patsy has been captured, Sheridan must choose between immediately searching for her, helping Kilton and continuing his plan to recruit Kobo. Discuss how people should establish priorities when several urgent responsibilities compete at once.
  • Sheridan briefly intervenes in the attack on Kilton but deliberately avoids remaining to fight beside him because he believes the larger plan is more important. Compare tactical courage with strategic judgment. Why can withdrawing sometimes require as much discipline as fighting?
  • Sheridan realizes that lives and a fortune may depend upon finding an inexpensive clock. Discuss how ordinary objects can acquire extraordinary value because of circumstances. What other examples from history or everyday life illustrate this principle?

Chapter Eight: Sheridan’s Answer to Dynamite

  • Sheridan gives Kobo glowing, ticking objects and presents them as protective charms. Discuss how Sheridan repeatedly succeeds by understanding what other people believe rather than demanding that they see the world as he does.
  • When Portuguese Joe takes Kilton and Patsy hostage inside the mine, Sheridan responds by using a diamond drill to enter through the tunnel roof. Discuss how technical knowledge and practical problem-solving become as important as marksmanship in Sheridan’s success.
  • Sheridan finally reveals that he originally came to Kamling because he had been ordered to kill Kilton in exchange for saving himself. Discuss how this revelation changes our understanding of Sheridan’s earlier actions. At what point do you think his mission changed from self-preservation to helping Kilton and Patsy?

Chapter Nine: A Last Spear for a Last Man

  • Sheridan reveals that the Shanghai bankers deceived both him and Kilton so they could eliminate Kilton and keep the profits from his mining interests. Discuss how Sheridan defeats their scheme by investigating the situation rather than simply accepting what powerful people told him.
  • Sheridan could still return to the Chinese army after exposing the bankers, but his final conversation with Patsy suggests that his ambitions have changed. Discuss how experiences can alter a person’s definition of success and the future he wants.
  • The story ends with Kilton wondering who conveniently placed the spear that Aboo-Tabak uses against Portuguese Joe. Discuss why the author leaves this question unanswered. How does the ambiguity affect your judgment of Sheridan and the story’s ending?

Escape for Three
Discussion Guide

Escape for Three Story Summary & Overview

Three disgruntled Foreign Legionnaires: John Smith, Blucher and Santos are pleased when their hated officer, Lieutenant Moraine, is captured by Berber fighters in Morocco. Hoping to desert, extort money from Moraine and eventually kill him, they secretly enter enemy territory and rescue him. Their selfish scheme unexpectedly becomes an act of extraordinary courage as they fight their way through overwhelming opposition and carry the wounded officer back to French lines. Afterward, each discovers that the others had secretly intended the rescue rather than desertion. Embarrassed by their accidental heroism, the three return to complaining about Moraine exactly as they had before.

Historical Context: Morocco & the French Foreign Legion

Escape for Three is set among the French Foreign Legion in Morocco during French colonial expansion in North Africa. The story specifically describes Berber resistance to French colonization and places the Legionnaires deep in mountainous territory where French forces are attempting to overcome that resistance. The French protectorate in Morocco began in 1912, but French control was contested for years, particularly among Amazigh communities in mountainous regions. The rugged terrain made military campaigns difficult and gave local fighters important defensive advantages. The French Foreign Legion also provides an important background to the story. Its ranks historically included men of many nationalities, which the author reflects through his three central characters: Smith is American, Blucher German and Santos is presented as another foreign Legionnaire.

Discussion Questions

  • Smith, Blucher and Santos openly celebrate Moraine’s capture because they consider him arrogant, cruel and contemptuous of ordinary Legionnaires. Discuss how poor leadership can destroy loyalty. What responsibilities does an officer have beyond simply giving orders?
  • The three initially describe their plan as an opportunity to rescue Moraine, force him to take them to Casablanca, demand money and then kill him. Discuss how the story deliberately makes its central characters appear selfish and dishonorable at the beginning. How does that affect the reader’s expectations about what they will eventually do?
  • The Legionnaires believe the Berbers expect a conventional French attack at dawn, so they exploit that expectation by entering enemy territory at night. Discuss the importance of unpredictability in military strategy. Why can understanding what an opponent expects be as useful as understanding his weapons?
  • Smith, Blucher and Santos capture a Berber and use torture to force him to reveal Moraine’s location. Discuss how this episode complicates the idea that the three men are becoming heroes. Can courageous actions elsewhere in a story change how we judge morally troubling behavior?
  • Santos disguises himself in a dead Berber’s clothing and deliberately leads the village’s fighters away while Smith and Blucher search for Moraine. Discuss why successful deception often requires understanding what other people expect to see and hear.
  • When the Legionnaires finally find Moraine, they discover that he has been wounded and badly beaten but has not suffered the elaborate torture they had imagined. Discuss what this difference between expectation and reality reveals about prejudice, rumor and the tendency to imagine enemies as more brutal than the evidence demonstrates.
  • Although Smith, Blucher and Santos claim they want Moraine alive only because he can provide money and help them escape, they repeatedly place their own lives in extreme danger to rescue him. Discuss the difference between what people say motivates them and what their actions reveal about their actual values.
  • During the escape, Santos accidentally speaks French while disguised, exposing the group and triggering a violent fight. Discuss how quickly a carefully constructed plan can collapse because of one small mistake. What does the group’s response reveal about adaptability under pressure?
  • Santos is wounded during the escape but continues fighting and uses captured grenades to clear a path through the attackers. Discuss how the story defines courage. Is courage primarily demonstrated by ignoring danger, enduring pain, protecting others or continuing despite fear?
  • Smith eventually carries the wounded Moraine over his shoulder even though Moraine protests that he can walk. Compare this action with the contempt Smith expressed for Moraine at the beginning. What might cause someone to risk his life for a person he genuinely dislikes?
  • After the rescue, Smith discovers that Santos and Blucher believed he intended to desert, while he had believed the same thing about them. All three had actually used their supposed desertion scheme as an excuse to rescue Moraine. Discuss why none of the three was willing to admit his honorable intentions beforehand. What does this suggest about pride, masculinity and reputation within their group?
  • The story ends with the three men immediately returning to their complaints about Moraine, even after risking their lives to save him. Discuss why this humorous ending is important. Does their continued dislike of Moraine make their rescue more heroic because they saved someone they believed deserved no personal loyalty?