River of Ice

River of Ice

"The River of Ice" is the 11th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the July 1, 1940 issue of "The Avenger” magazine.

Publishing history

This novel was re-published under its original title by Paperback Library on April 1, 1973.

ummary

In a cave under a glacier (the "River of Ice") in British Columbia, Brent and Lini Waller find a time capsule with treasure, artifacts, and manuscripts from an advanced, pre-Ice Age civilization. Lini seeks to sell the cave contents to the Wittwar Foundation. Benson declines to lead an expedition to the cave. Lini is kidnapped, and a steel needle is pounded into her brain, a pre-Ice Age mind control technique. She leads the Justice Inc. team into several death traps, including a room filled with dry ice and a building that falls on their car. Mac and Josh, sent to locate the cave, are captured by the criminals. Nellie, captured, apparently has a needle inserted in her brain. Flying to the cave, under Lini's control, Nellie strands Benson, Smitty, and Rosabel in a remote location. Benson had planned for a second plane, delivered by a young Canadian pilot, but accidentally crashes it and is captured. The mastermind seeks the ancient cold light technology which lights the cave, removes all the ancient artifacts, and sets an explosion that buries the cave with the Justice Inc. team inside. Benson arranged for the explosion to destroy the criminals, and escapes the cave using ancient advanced technology.

Notes

* Benson is "probably the best hypnotist alive."

* Benson, despite his strikingly unusual appearance, can walk openly without being seen, much like The Shadow: "Enemies sometimes swore he could make himself invisible."

* Smitty, in his anxiety for Nellie's safely, kills several criminals, apparently without reprimand.

* Doc Savage-like, Benson wears an equipment vest and uses a neck squeeze to render enemies unconscious.

* Benson's plane is described as "about the fastest thing in the country."

* Benson has never called himself "The Avenger": "That grim title had been bestowed on him by others, principally members of the underworld".

* Benson's aides realize that he has a death wish: "...Benson wasn't trying to avoid death in his dangerous work. He was half courting it. He wanted to die."

External links

* [http://members.aol.com/macmurdie/covers/4007_cv.html Magazine cover for "The River of Ice"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • river — river1 riverless, adj. riverlike, adj. /riv euhr/, n. 1. a natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a definite course or channel or series of diverging and converging channels. 2. a similar stream of something other than water: a… …   Universalium

  • River Thames frost fairs — were fairs held on the River Thames at London when that portion of the river sometimes froze over, during the 15th–19th centuries, when the British winter climate was more severe than it is now.During the Great Frost of (1683–1684), the worst… …   Wikipedia

  • Ice climbing — Ice climbing, as the term indicates, is the activity of ascending inclined ice formations. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice… …   Wikipedia

  • Ice road — Ice roads or ice crossings (which are sometimes referred to as ice bridges), are frozen man made structures formed on the surface of bays, inlets, rivers, lakes or seas, and are linked from frozen waterway to frozen waterway by overland portages …   Wikipedia

  • Ice blasting — is the use of explosives to break up ice in rivers, greatly aiding navigation systems. This is done during the spring when snow is melting and river ice is breaking up. There is always a chance that the ice flows could collide creating an ice jam …   Wikipedia

  • Ice yachting — is the great sport of sailing and racing iceboats, also called ice yachts. It is practiced in Great Britain, Poland, Norway and Sweden, to some extent, and is very popular in the Netherlands and on the Gulf of Finland, but its highest development …   Wikipedia

  • River Nene — River The River Nene at Kislingbury Watermill, Northamptonshir …   Wikipedia

  • Ice swimming — is swimming in a body of water with a frozen crust of ice, which requires cutting a hole in the ice. This may also be simulated by a pool of water at 0 °C, the temperature at which water freezes. Ice swimming is possible because the freezing of… …   Wikipedia

  • Ice Harbor Lock and Dam — is a hydroelectric, concrete, gravity dam on the Snake River in Walla Walla and Franklin counties in the U.S. state of Washington. The dam is located 8 miles (13 km) northeast of the town of Burbank and 12 miles (20 km) east of Pasco, river mile… …   Wikipedia

  • Ice sculpture — is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decoration. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”