The Road to Samarcand

An archaeological expedition with a cargo of priceless jade is pursued across the Gobi Desert into the snows of Tibet. This story begins with a sloop in the South China Sea barely surviving a killer typhoon. In the company of his rough seafaring uncle and an elderly English cousin‚ an eminent archeologist‚ a teenaged American boy whose missionary parents have just died sets off in search of ancient treasures in central Asia. Along the way they encounter a charismatic Chinese bandit and a host of nasty characters‚ including Russian agents fomenting unrest. The tale ends in a life–and–death deliverance in an ice–bound valley‚ with the party caught between hostile Red–Hat monks and the Great Silent Ones.