Unter heißer Zone (1916)

Captain Oliver Peer has seen a lot in his time. One day, during the voyage aboard his ship, the Rotterdam, he tells of a particularly thrilling adventure he once had to survive in Africa. As in the past, the wealthy diamond-mine owner J. Master had once again entrusted him with transporting to Europe the precious stones mined on his estate. This time, the cargo was of especially great value. When business was held up a little, Peer was invited on a lion hunt. The animal trainer Leander, who was to capture the animals for a US company to train them for a special act, took the captain along on the hunt. On that occasion, Peer met the Amsterdam diamond dealer Yb van Haag and the American Ellen Johnston. But during an excursion to the colonial gold mines, Miss Johnston suddenly disappeared. A dark-skinned man whom everyone called “the mulatto Orres” had abducted her. After Ellen was rescued, Orres was dismissed on the spot. When Master said that an especially large diamond had been mined this time, everyone hurried there at once. They christened the enormous stone the “Southern Star.” It was the size of a child’s head. Even then, van Haag, having held the diamond in his hands, could not take his greedy eyes off it. Preparations for the return voyage to Europe left Peer little time for other things, such as Ellen Johnston. So one day he discovered that the young woman who interested him had disappeared again, together with van Haag. The police were already searching for them as a pair of swindlers. Without Captain Peer’s knowledge, his first mate had hired the dismissed Orres for the return voyage, and he was now working in the ship’s hold. On the way home, Peer received a radio message instructing him to call at Tenerife first and take mail from there back home. As the ship was docking, a figure climbed from it onto a sailing ship moored alongside. When Peer went to put the mail in his ship’s safe, he discovered that someone had stolen the Southern Star. Having little faith in the foreign police, Peer took up the thief’s pursuit himself and tracked him down at a seaside hotel. It was Orres, and Peer continued after him. In a dimly lit harbor bar, he alerted the police, who took Orres into custody. To learn where the giant diamond was hidden, they led the mulatto to believe that van Haag had betrayed him. To increase the pressure, Peer then disguised himself as van Haag. At last, Orres confessed. The dark-skinned man said he had hidden the stone in the old engine house at Green Rock. When Peer got there, he managed to find the diamond, but van Haag arrived, overpowered him, and tied him up. The villain lit a fuse leading to a pile of dynamite, which was set to blow up the house along with the unconscious captain. But Peer, like Orres, managed to free himself. At the last moment, Peer positioned himself so that the explosion would not tear him apart. His men dug him out from beneath the stones of the house’s walls. He was battered, but at least he was alive. Peer hurried to the police and learned that a ship had left for America half an hour earlier. They suspected the diamond thieves were aboard, so Peer set sail after them. The other ship also carried the lion trainer and the big cats he had captured. He and van Haag got talking. It emerged that Ellen Johnston was also aboard, was married to van Haag, and had married him against her father’s express wishes. Her sister Conny tried to reconcile their father and sister. On arriving in New York, van Haag accepted an invitation from Leander, who wanted to show him his lion-training act at his farm. Peer soon turned up there too, and was astonished to see the close, affectionate rapport between van Haag and Ellen. When she got the chance, Ellen made it clear to Peer that she had stayed by van Haag’s side only to help him. She even procured a horse for Peer so he could continue chasing the diamond thief. At full gallop, Peer caught up with van Haag in Leander’s log cabin, where he had temporarily housed his lions. Van Haag got away, leaving Peer to face the snarling lions. Fortunately, Leander rushed over and rescued him from the predicament. The pursuit continued aboard a moving train, but while Peer jumped onto it, van Haag and Orres jumped off. Ellen met van Haag again; he was still unsuspecting, and she questioned him about his future plans. The unscrupulous thief intended to blow up Devil’s Bridge, which the train carrying Peer had to cross, so he could finally get rid of his persistent pursuer. Ellen then alerted Conny, a telegraph operator, who sent a warning by telegraph to the train crew. But it was already too late: the train had gathered too much speed. Peer therefore made his way forward over the roofs of the cars and uncoupled the locomotive from them. The cars slowed down as the locomotive raced toward the bridge. Then the bridge was blown up, and the locomotive plunged into the depths. Van Haag and Orres tried to flee, but Captain Peer, his men, and Ellen were on their trail. The final confrontation followed, during which van Haag fired a fatal shot at the “traitor,” his wife Ellen. A scuffle broke out in a log cabin, with fists flying. At last, the two criminals were arrested by the police. Ellen’s last words were that she deeply regretted her mistake in becoming involved with van Haag. Captain Peer took possession of the Southern Star and was finally able to complete his voyage to Amsterdam.