The Treasure in the Forest

Genre: Short story

Writer: H. G. Wells (1866-1946), English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian, best known for science fiction novels.

Theme: Consequence of greed

Characters:

1. Evans

2. Hooker

3. Chang-hi

Summary

One night in a forest Evans and Hooker, two English wastrels, overhear three Chinamen talk about lost Spanish treasure. A Chinaman, named Chang-hi, has found the treasure and has hidden it somewhere in the forest with utmost safety. He has the map of the location with him. Evans and Hooker attack the Chinamen and seize the map.

Following the map, the two friends travel across the river and reach the forest where the treasure is hidden. Nearby the bank of the river they find the dead body of a Chinaman. Nearby the dead body, they find a freshly dug hole. Inside the hole, they find the gold ingots. Evans takes out the ingots from the hole and put them on his jacket spread on the ground. While taking out the ingots, he gets pricked by a thorn, but ignores the pain. Evans and Hooker carry the jacket full of ingots towards the boat, but on the way, Evans feels uneasiness in his body and stumbles by a tree. As Hooker watches in surprise, Evans dies in no time.

Hooker picks up the scattered ingots, but while doing so, he also gets pricked by a thorn. He recognizes the thorn as something Dyaks (a particular group of indigenous people) poison and use in their bowing-tubes for hunting animals. However, it is already late now. The poison starts to work in his body and he also dies right there beside his friend. In this way, all the men who go after the treasure meet death as the consequence of their greed.