Writing
In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other—or can be made to have seemed to do so.
Bedford Mills, wounded in France, meets aristocratic Helen Jessop at a party given by her father for returning war heroes in his Fifth Avenue home. Bedford falls violently in love with Helen, but discovering that he is only a poor bank clerk she insists that he must first become a man of importance. He decides that, in view of the soaring prices of shoes, he will refuse to wear shoes on the street. Causing a sensation, he is arrested and then released, but all New York reads of his exploits.
Travelers find themselves marooned on an island with a maniacal self-made ruler.
A down-on-his-luck sea captain accepts an assignment on a rickety boat with a mysterious cargo and a questionable crew. As disaster befalls disaster, the crew finds itself on an uncharted island with a mad ex-sea captain who lives with a mute woman who threatens to kill them all.
An old skipper, Captain Davis, has as his companions two derelicts -- one, Huish, is a Cockney, and the other, Robert Herrick was once a gentleman. In Tahiti they board a schooner and a storm takes them to an uncharted island. Living there is pearl broker Richard Attwater, and his daughter Ruth. Attwater is bitter because a supposed friend stole his wife and he has sworn to wreak vengeance on any white man he happens to encounter. Davis and Huish want to get their hands on his pearls, while, Herrick falls in love with the man's daughter.
