Brash and bold and daring, Lieutenant Lee Briscoe will never back away from a good cause or a good fight.
Briscoe’s gone undercover to infiltrate a slave-labor camp on an island in Southeast Asia, knowing full well that once he goes in, he may never get out. Posing as a man on the run for murder, he may soon wish he had run in the opposite direction. His adversary on the island is Schwenk—a man who is not only a connoisseur of cruelty, but an expert at delivering it.
And for Briscoe, the stakes have just shot up. An innocent young woman has landed on the island and fallen into Schwenk’s clutches, sold to him to do with her as he pleases. Escape is the only option … or both Briscoe and the girl are sure to face a fate worse than death.
Performers: R.F. Daley (narrator), Joey Naber, Christina Huntington, Phil Proctor, and Jim Meskimen.
SAMPLE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L. Ron Hubbard once wrote in his journal: “There must be wide spaces in which to think, strange music to hear, odd costumes to see and the elements to battle against. Money, nice cars, good food and a ‘good job’ mean nothing to me when compared to being able to possess the thought that there is a surprise over the horizon.” Venturing toward that horizon, at age seventeen Ron set sail for the South Pacific in July 1927, and after spending time getting to know the local natives, he signed aboard a working schooner bound for China’s coast. Along the way, Ron encountered many dangers lurking in the thick jungle mists—firsthand experience that contributed to stories like The Bold Dare All.
The Bold Dare All Glossary
Stories from the Golden Age reflect the words and expressions used in the 1930s and 1940s, adding unique flavor and authenticity to the tales. While a character’s speech may often reflect regional origins, it also can convey attitudes common in the day. So that readers can better grasp such cultural and historical terms, uncommon words or expressions of the era, the following glossary has been provided.
bandolier: a broad belt worn over the shoulder by soldiers and having a number of small loops or pockets for holding cartridges.
barker: someone who stands in front of a show at a carnival and gives a loud colorful sales talk to potential customers.
belaying pin: a large wooden or metal pin that fits into a hole in a rail on a ship or boat, and to which a rope can be fastened.
blackbird: to kidnap South Sea Islanders (Australian descendants from the more than eighty islands in the western Pacific) for use or sale as laborers.
black ivory: slaves.
bone: bone in the teeth; said of a ship speeding along sending up spray or foam under the bow. The phrase comes from the image of a dog, merrily running with a bone in its teeth.
boot: saddle boot; a close-fitting covering or case for a gun or other weapon that straps to a saddle.
bower of swords: the arch, or simulated shelter, formed by swords held by military personnel for the bride and groom to walk under as they exit the church.
cable length: a maritime unit of length measuring 720 feet (220 meters) in the US and 608 feet (185 meters) in England.
campaigner: campaign hat; a felt hat with a broad stiff brim and four dents in the crown, formerly worn by personnel in the US Army and Marine Corps.
Celebes Sea: a section of the western Pacific Ocean between the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes), Borneo and the southern Philippines.
copra: the dried kernel or meat of the coconut from which coconut oil is obtained.
davits: any of various cranelike devices, used singly or in pairs, for supporting, raising and lowering boats, anchors and cargo over a hatchway or side of a ship.
¿De donde viene el caballo?: (Spanish) Where is the horse from?
Derringer: a pocket-sized, short-barreled, large-caliber pistol. Named for the US gunsmith Henry Deringer (1786–1868), who designed it.
Enfield rifle: any of several rifles formerly used by British and American troops, especially the .30- or .303-caliber, bolt-action, breech-loading model.
fantail: a rounded overhanging part of a ship’s stern (the rear part of the ship).
flivver: a small, cheap and usually old car.
Flores Sea: a sea situated between the eastern end of the Java Sea and the western end of the Banda Sea in Indonesia.
fo’c’s’le: forecastle; the upper deck of a sailing ship, forward of the foremast.
German East Africa: former German territory comprising present-day Burundi, Rwanda and mainland Tanzania.
gig: a boat reserved for the use of the captain of a ship.
give way: begin to row.
G-men: government men; agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
grease: bribe or protection money; money given for corrupt purposes.
grifter: crooked game operator; a person who operates a sideshow at a circus, fair, etc., especially a gambling attraction.
guilders: Dutch coins. Guilder means golden in Dutch. The guilder originated as a gold coin (hence the name) but has been a common name for a coin of silver or other metal for some centuries.
gunwale: the upper edge of the side of a boat. Originally a gunwale was a platform where guns were mounted, and was designed to accommodate the additional stresses imposed by the artillery being used.
hawser: a thick rope or cable for mooring or towing a ship.
HE: high explosive.
Herr: (German) Mister, used as a title before a surname or profession.
Iron Cross of the First Class: a military decoration of the Kingdom of Prussia, and later of Germany, first awarded in 1813. The Iron Cross was awarded for bravery in battle, as well as for other military contributions in a battlefield environment. The Iron Cross First Class was a pin-on medal with no ribbon and was worn centered on a uniform breast pocket. It was a progressive award, with second class having to be earned before the first class and so on for the various degrees.
Kanakas: inhabitants of the South Sea Islands.
keel: a lengthwise structure along the base of a ship, and in some vessels extended downwards as a ridge to increase stability.
lam: to escape or run away, especially from the law.
le Maroc: (French) Morocco.
light out: to leave quickly; depart hurriedly.
longboat: the longest boat carried by a sailing ship.
midway: an avenue or area at a carnival where the concessions for exhibitions of curiosities, games of chance, scenes from foreign life, merry-go-rounds, and other rides and amusements are located.
monkey fists: ball-like knots used as ornaments or as throwing weights at the ends of lines.
Oberleutnant Kommandant: (German) chief lieutenant commandant.
pipe-clayed: made clean and smart; pipe clay is a fine white clay used in whitening leather. It was at one time largely used by soldiers for making their gloves, accouterments and clothes look clean and smart.
points: a point is 11.25 degrees on a compass, thus two points would be 22.50 degrees.
Prussian: a native or inhabitant of Prussia. Prussia, a former northern European nation, based much of its rule on armed might, stressing rigid military discipline and maintaining one of the most strictly drilled armies in the world.
Punch: the chief male character of the Punch and Judy puppet show, a famous English comedy dating back to the seventeenth century, by way of France from Italy. It is performed using hand puppets in a tent-style puppet theater with a cloth backdrop and board in front. The puppeteer introduces the puppets from beneath the board so that they are essentially popping up to the stage area of the theater.
puttee: a covering for the lower part of the leg from the ankle to the knee, consisting of a long narrow piece of cloth wound tightly and spirally round the leg, and serving both as a support and protection. It was once adopted as part of the uniform of foot and mounted soldiers in several armies.
¿Que pasó?: (Spanish) What happened?
quirt: a riding whip with a short handle and a braided leather lash.
¿Quién sabe?: (Spanish) Who knows?
Scheherazade: the female narrator of The Arabian Nights, who during one thousand and one adventurous nights saved her life by entertaining her husband, the king, with stories.
schooner: a fast sailing ship with at least two masts and with sails set lengthwise.
scupper: an opening in the side of a ship at deck level that allows water to run off.
Springfield: any of several types of rifle, named after Springfield, Massachusetts, the site of a federal armory that made the rifles.
Sulu Archipelago: island group in the Philippines lying between the Celebes and Sulu Seas. It includes over 900 volcanic islands and coral islets extending almost to Borneo.
superstructure: cabins and rooms above the deck of a ship.
tatterdemalion: raggedly dressed and unkempt.
Tawan: now Tawau; British-controlled town on the coast of Borneo facing the Celebes Sea. In the early nineteenth century, the British and Dutch governments signed a treaty to exchange trading ports that also divided Borneo into British- and Dutch-controlled areas.
.38 Colt: a .38-caliber revolver manufactured by the Colt Firearms Company, founded in 1847 by Samuel Colt (1814–1862) who revolutionized the firearms industry with the invention of the revolver.
top kick: a first sergeant, the senior enlisted grade authorized in a company.
two bits: a quarter; during the colonial days, people used coins from all over the world. When the US adopted an official currency, the Spanish milled (machine-struck) dollar was chosen and it later became the model for American silver dollars. Milled dollars were easily cut apart into equal “bits” of eight pieces. Two bits would equal a quarter of a dollar.
USMC: United States Marine Corps.
Very pistol: a special pistol that shoots Very lights, a variety of colored signal flares.
yanqui: (Spanish) Yankee; term used to refer to Americans in general.
