Class 12 English Lesson 4: A Story: The Treasure in the Forest by HG Wells Literature Section

 

Lesson – 4 Story: ‘The Treasure in the Forest’ by H.G. Wells

Click for Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbGR4yg4_Mk 

About the Story Writer

 

Herbert George Wells, (1866-1946) was an English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian, best known for such science fiction novels. His first novel, The Time Machine (1895) was immediately successful. He also wrote many short stories, which were collected in The Stolen Bacillus (1895), The Plattner Story (1897), and Tales of Space and Time (1899). This story is taken from the collection The Country of the Blind and other Short Stories. ‘The Treasure in the Forest’ is a threatening adventure story in which two men search for Spanish treasure, letting greed get the better of their awareness. As the story moves ahead to show how power and greed corrupt human beings

Characters in the Story

·         Evans – one of the greedy people who killed Chinaman for the map

·        Hooker – Fellow-man or friend of Evans

·        Chinaman – a person who buried all treasures but was killed by Evans and Hooker

·        Dead Body in Treasure place – one of the greedy friends of Chinaman

The plot of the Story

·        A shipwrecked Spanish ship had left its wealth behind, and Chang-hi had found it by accident and chose to rebury it at a different site, which he located using a map he had created.

·        Evans and Hooker assassinated Chang-hi, a Chinese man, and took his treasure map. They marched in the direction indicated on the map.

·        Evans and Hooker finally found the location shown on the map. They discovered the corpse of a Chinese guy who had been searching for the treasure, as shown by several partially exposed yellow gold bars recovered in the pit he had dug.

·        They piled on the gold. When they took up the gold ingots, they were pricked by a thorn prick, which Chang-hi had used to guard his wealth with thorns "similar to those of the Aksison.

·        Hooker lay dead next to his "still quivering" partner, inhaling their last breath.

Summarized Part of the Story

This is a suspenseful story. The story starts with the two men (Evans and Hooker) who went on a voyage with an improvised Canoe (boat) with a map. They got this map by robbing and murdering a Chinaman. The map was unclear. On a map, there was the outline of the island. Evans studied the map and ran his thumbnail over the chart for the notion of different symbols on the map. Like; the curve and twisting line was the river. A man with the map said to his partner that he could see that dotted line which was straight and ran from the opening of the reef (समद्री चट्टान) to a clump (समुह) of palm trees.

There was a blue star just where it cut the river. They only marked the place ‘lagoon’ (meaning: a small freshwater lake near a larger lake or river). When Evans asked Hooker, ‘What the dotted line represents and what type the writing? Hooker replied it’s Chinese. Of course, Chinese, Evans said. They waited for a while and started their journey to the island as shown on the map. They didn’t pay much attention to the dotted line. Hooker turned the paddle of the Canoe. Evans looked exhausted because of long the voyage from the mainland in the unprovisioned canoe. He tried to direct his mind to the ingots but can’t because of the dryness of his throat and lip. He dozed and saw a dream. In his dream, his friend Hooker was also present.

They saw three Chinese men talking about the treasure. The treasure was of the Spanish galleon which was shipwrecked nearly 200 years ago. Chang-hi reburied it in a secret and safe place. It was his secret. He wanted help to return and disclose it back. Suddenly the Evans dream shifted to a moment where he had Chang-hi’s pigtail in his hand. Chang-hi threatened him. Chang-hi struggled to get the gold back. But Evans took the Chang-hi by pigtail. After some time, there was silence. Suddenly, Chang-hi opened his eyes and laughed. He saw a heap and heap of gold there which turned into a vast devil-like Chang-hi with a huge black tail. 

Evans was speaking in the dream. Then, Hooker made him get up. They were near the lagoon (a small freshwater lake near a larger lake or river). There were also three palm trees as shown on the map and several bushes around. They passed the bushes and came to a river. They both drank the water from that river and ran their canoe. He paused their Canoe at a place and went toward the jungle in the search of the opening of the reef and the bushes in a straight line as shown on the map. During walking sometimes in the jungle, they found the stream. When they went a little downstream, they found something blue. It’s the dead body that looked like Chinaman. The body pose was unmistakable. They were quite surprised after seeing him there.

Near the dead body, there was a dug hole. Evans cleared the hole with their bare hand. During clearing the hole, a little thorn pricked his hand. He took out the thorn from his finger and lifted the ingot from the whole. But Hooker did nothing at that moment. He only looked at Chinaman’s dead body yet. Hooker wanted to be buried the dead body. Evans convinced him by saying some poisonous snake bit Chinaman. He proposed to go from there with the ingot. Then Hooker was convinced and ready to go. They both lifted the jacket from both sides in which the ingot was put. After walking some steps, Evans’s arms were aching, his face became white and a little drop of sweat stood out on his forehead. Evans was breathing heavily. His face became distorted with pain. When Hooker went near Evans to help, “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” said Evans in a stifled voice. “Put the gold back on the coat.”

Hooker took the gold in the jacket but a slender thorn, perhaps two inches in length pricked on his hand. He looked at the thorn for some time and saw its situation of Evans. Hooker again looked at the pillar of the tree and creeper stems. He compared this situation with Chinaman. Now, he understood the meaning of dashes on the map. “God help me!” he said. The thorns were similar to those the Dyaks poison and used in their blowing tubes. Then, he understood now what Chang-hi’s assurance of the safety of his treasure meant. He also understood that laugh now. Hooker cried saying Evans, Evans!, but Evans was silent and motionless. He started to suck where the thorn pricked. But it was too late. He felt a strange aching pain in his arms and shoulders, and his fingers seemed difficult to bend, then he knew that sucking was no good.

Shortly, he stopped and sat down by the pile of ingots. Chang-hi’s grin came into his mind again. His pain was increasing slowly. From above, the white petals fell on the body due to the slow wind. Finally, both of them got their unexpected death.

Understanding the text: Answer the following questions.

a.      Describe the expository scene of the story.

The story starts with the two-man (Evans and Hooker) who went on a voyage with an unprovisioned Canoe (boat) with an unclear map. These two men had been presented in their small canoe near the beach of a tropical Island. They could see the empty beach, the green forest and the mountains of the Island ahead.

b.     What does the map look like and how do Evan and Hooker interpret it?

The map looks like a rough map of treasure/ingots. Evan and Hooker interpret it by running a thumbnail over the chart for the notion of different symbols on the map such as the curve and twisting line is the river. Evan pointed the dotted line which was straight and ran from the opening of the reef to a clump of palm trees.

c.      How did Evan and Hooker know about the treasure?

They knew about the treasure through three Chinese men’s quiet talks in the forest. Both Evans and Hooker wert there in the jungle searching for something. They saw them behind some bushes in the forest. They were sitting in front of a fire and talking quietly about the treasure in an English accent. Evans and Hooker moved closer and heard their plan related to hidden Spanish treasure.

d.     Describe Evan’s dream.

He saw himself and his friend, Hooker in the forest searching something. They saw three Chinese men talking the treasure in English accent. Evans with Hooker went near to them and knew about the Spanish treasure. He also saw himself catching the neck of Chang-hi and gold in huge portions. Finally, he saw Chang-hi with his open eyes who appeared like a terrible monster with a tail.

e.      What do the two treasure hunters see when they walk towards the Island?

They see the three palm trees, an opening of the reef and the bushes in a straight line as shown on the map. When they go a little downstream, they find something blue. It’s the dead body that looks like a Chinaman. Near the dead body, there is a dug hole where the treasure lies.

f.       In what condition did the treasure hunters find the dead man?

The treasure hunters found the dead man whose body had been changed in blue like some poisonous snake bites. The Chinaman’s neck was gasping and purple, and the hands and ankles were swollen. The face of the dead man was down on the grass.

g.     How did the treasure hunters try to carry gold ingots to the canoe?

There are two treasure hunters: Evans and Hooker. One of them, Evans took his Jacket off and spread it on the ground, and flung ingots into it. And then they both took each end of the collar of the coat in their hands to carry gold ingots to the canoe.

h.     How were Evan and Hooker poisoned?

During clearing the hole to get out the ingots from the hole, a little thorn pricked in Evan’s hand and got poisoned. And when Evan fell ill, the corner of the jacket on which the gold is; left from his hand and scattered on the ground. Hooker put the gold back on the coat. While collecting gold, a thorn is pricked in his hand and he also gets poisoned.  

 

***

Click for Reference to  the Context:  https://limbuchandrabahadur.blogspot.com/2025/06/class-12-english-lesson-4-story_8.html