Black Dog Book‘s The Master of Dragons reprints another short series by H. Bedford-Jones (1887-1949), the adventures of O’Neill and Burket.
Like the prior The Golden Goshawk, I am sure something inspired Bedford-Jones to write this series, and he dashed off the four and submitted them to Short Stories, where the first three were quickly published. The last, probably rejected by Short Stories, appeared elsewhere. The introduction by Tom Roberts gives a good overview of Short Stories and what might have caused this. The cover art is taken from an issue of The Blue Book.
The series is:
- “The Devil’s Hat-Rack,” Short Stories, May 10, 1932
- “The Blue Beetle,” Short Stories, May 25, 1932
- “The Death Trap,” Short Stories, July 10, 1932
- “The Master of Dragons,” The Magic Carpet, January 1933
These stories are set in China during the “warlord era,” after the Qing Dynasty had collapsed and the Republic of China struggled to control the country, where various local warlords held sway over the various cities and provinces. In the city of Chengdu, the capitol of the Szechuan province two American soldiers of fortune appear: Bert Burket and Terrance O’Neill.
They had been working various military roles, were broke, and are looking to becoming colonels for Governor Wang and run his armory. But O’Neill has a special history in the town. He had grown up there with his father, who amassed a collection of antiques before he passed away. He is fluent in various Chinese languages. But Wang has taken O’Neill’s late father’s collection and hurt families he knew in the town. So Wang is a bit wary of him.
Burket and O’Neill get the better of him, but Wang has an interesting proposal. If they leave the town, he will make them generals and his foreign envoys to the other towns in the province, being ruled over by various generals, and impose a tribute from them, keeping half of it. If they succeed, Wang gets money and loyalty from the generals. If they replace a general, Wang still gets a loyal follower, and if a general kills the pair, he has gotten rid of them.
So the following three stories take the pair to different cities, where they deal with various warlords, imposing a fee, in the process outwitting them and getting rid of a few. In the final story, which is longer than the rest, they also rescue a young woman, and in the process move on to their next adventure without dealing with Governor Wang.
You do have to wonder what inspired Bedford-Jones to write up this quartet of stories. They are pretty interesting, and I wonder how realistic they are to the era. But they are an enjoyable series of stories.
