“Bellow Bill” Williams is a South Sea island pearler who has various adventures. Never before reprinted, The Stuff of Empire: Bellow Bill Williams, Vol. 2 is this the second volume from Steeger Books with the next eight stories from Argosy.
I had gotten the first volume when I heard it touted that Lester Dent read the series and that it influenced his Doc Savage stories. I enjoyed the first one and looked forward to this one as well.
Ralph Perry (1895-?) wrote adventure stories, many with a nautical theme, but he also wrote some westerns. But his works stopped after 1941. Did he get involved in WWII and pass away? No idea.
“Bellow Bill” Williams seems to be his only serial character. He appeared from 1929 to 1936; this volume covers August 1931 to April 1934. We have one more volume.
Bellow Bill is a big man, six-foot-three, 225 pounds. Hair is curly and coppery gold in color, and dark blue eyes. And he has tattoos. His arms are covered with them. Ropes are tattooed on his wrists, with stars, butterflies, and serpents running up his arms. A dragon is on his chest, a full-rigged ship on his back, and a snake around his waist finish that off. He chews tobacco. And his nickname is due to his bellowing voice. While Bill is a big and strong character, he is not dumb and works out plans for his actions. And he has a core of ethics, doing the right thing. Several times, he passes up a fortune for the right reasons.
There are no regular secondary characters in these stories, nor are they set around a particular island or location. This allows Bill to rove the South Pacific, meet difference characters, good and bad. Now, how the Chinese and natives are treated might be off-putting to some, but you need to read these for the adventure and danger. Keep this in mind. The good people treat everyone decently, the bad people don’t.
In this volume, we get the following stories:
In “Missing” (Aug. 1, 1931), Bill is working to help is only friend, known as Pug, out of a serious jam. Pug has been accused of piracy, and Bill sent him away for safety. But it seems that Pug is really the son of a rich American who had disinherited him. Pug had fled to the South Seas, but his father realized his mistake and wants to find him. So this complicates things as there are people after Pug to try him for piracy, others want the reward. Bill puts himself in danger to get him out of this, and this story shows you not just his daring and loyalty, but that he can plan things out pretty well.
In “More Than Millions” (Dec. 26, 1931), Bill and another schooner captain are waiting out a major storm in the harbor of a small Dutch island. When they get a distress call from a sinking yacht, they head out. However, the local authority sees this as an opportunity to finally get rich. He gives Bill incorrect directions, then goes with the other captain in hopes of a high salvage fee. Instead he finds the survivors, a Wall Street millionaire with his wife and daughter, and hopes to ransom them off. And tries to pin it all on Bill. Will Bill get out of things?
In “The Stuff of Empire” (July 9, 1932), Bill is at another small island, and is helping look for a white girl who has been staying with the natives for two years and is apparently in danger after receiving a message on a cross of gold. If it wasn’t bad enought to deal with headhunters with poison blowdarts, they must contend with another member of their rescue party having gold fever.
Set in Australia, “Spearhead” (April 8, 1933) finds Bill docking his schooner, and taking a small boat up the coast and for some reason getting marooned during a storm. But thankfully it’s an area with some settlers who rescue him. But why did he maroon himself? Well, he was asked by the governor to check out one of the settlers who have been there for some time. There is some idea he may be a murderer! Is he? Can Bill figure it out or has he put himself in danger?
While in a harbor, a boat is seen sailing in. But Bill spots that the man at the helm is dead! This is our lead in to “The Accomplice” (July 22, 1933). The dead man is the brother of the local commissioner, sent on a secret mission to find who has been preying on the pearlers. Guess he found him. The commissioner thinks it’s More Fathom Todd, a man who has suffered tragedy. Bill thinks otherwise, and sets out to find out who is behind it all. Will he succeed?
Things start strangely in “Terror Island” (Oct. 7, 1933). Bill has a couple of encounters that leads him to feel someone either wants him off to sea or in jail. He soon figures out why when he finds Golden Nick Atterson on his boat with a dog. Mostly blind, he needs Bill’s help. His only son has been kidnapped and help by Clipper Clarke. Or more precisely, Clarke has gotten the natives he rules over on Terror Island to hold the boy. Clarke wants $100,000 in gold. And Nick can only bring one person to help him. Can Bill turn the tables on Clarke and get Nick and his son out of danger?
In yet another mystery, “Jib-Boom Charlie” (March 3, 1934) has Bill awaken on Onamatu to find that an oil launch has been stolen. Also, all the pearls he had gathered in the last year are stolen as well. And the local governor is kidnappedd! The only suspect is the local crazy beachcomber, Jib-boom Charlie. Is he to blame? Again, can Bill get to the bottom of things and get everything back?
The last tale is “The Wrong Move” (April 7, 1934), where a Chinese crimelord makes the mistake of having Bill shanghaied. He is placed in a coffin used to smuggle opium. In typical Bellow Bill fashion, he will turn the tables on the bad guys, and save a young Australian.
Another great collection of pulp adventure tales in exotic locales. Keep in mind that for most people at the time, the South Seas was an exotic place only known through magazines or newsreels. We have the last volume out now, and will be reviewing it soon.
