2007. IN THE DEPTHS OF THE DARK TONTINENT; OR, THE VENGEANCE OF VAN VINCENT. 

Brave and Bold 109, 21 January 1905. Anon, pictorial cover. 

Published as By the Author of The Wreck of the Glaucus. 

(Golden Hours, 28 May-30 July 1892, as "Van Vincent's Vow; or, Chased to the Heart of the Dark Continent," by Cornelius Shea) Dime novel. 

*  The New York area, and somewhere in West Africa. 

*  Two plots move concurrently. Van Vincent, a young American, is in continued pursuit of his cousin John Moreland (alias Doc Clancy), who murdered Van's amiable uncle. And a British three-man expedition (later joined by a woman disguised as a man) is engaged in exploring a hitherto unknown part of Africa. Both quests converge when Van, shanghaied on board a merchant vessel along with Clancy, is forced ashore when the ship catches fire. There he joins Britishers Jack Howard, Dr. Pestle, and Professor Drearland. 

*  Among the marvels that the explorers meet is a nation of primitive white Amazons who calmly announce that each of the young men must marry several of them, or else; a race of primitive dwarves who live underground; curious subterranean monstrosities, including land crabs the size of desks and horse-sized glyptodon-like creatures; and finally, the African Utopia. 

*  The African Utopia, which was founded a few hundred years ago by Egyptians, has developed a science in some respects superior to ours, with advanced use of electricity. It is a cultured and humane (though occasionally strict) society with a rotating administrative group. It is essentially a socialist state, with all wants provided for the individual as long as he/she works. Non-workers are fed to the lions. In the African Utopia Van finds a sweetheart and his long-lost father, while Clancy is executed, as deserved. Van and his friends return to the United States and prosecute the thieving lawyer who had been associated with Clancy.