Foreword and combined summary

Hearts of Three is presented by Jack London as an unusual, deliberately hybrid work: a novelization of a film scenario by Charles Goddard. London explains the commercial pressures of early cinema—an insatiable demand for rapid, episodic plots—and describes the working method: Goddard supplied cinematic, fast-paced action and “register” directions; London supplied novelistic expansion, atmospheric detail, and psychological shading. The collaboration was informal and largely independent, and London confesses both pride in the experiment and curiosity about the result: cinematic structure transposed into literary form.

The narrative itself unfolds as a sequence of interlocked episodes in which mythic elements, interpersonal drama and modern finance intersect. Principal figures are Francis Morgan, a wealthy, bored New Yorker; his wild kinsman Henry Morgan; Leoncia Solano, the adopted daughter of Enrico Solano; the speculator Thomas Regan; and the opportunist Torres. A contrived lead about Sir Henry Morgan’s buried buccaneer gold lures Francis to Central America, where mistakes of identity, a pistol‑threatened kiss with Leoncia, and a frame designed by Torres and a local jefe politico produce multiple arrests and a spectacular dynamite jailbreak that unites Francis and Henry.

The paired treasure quests—Morgan’s buccaneer hoard and a lost Maya cache—drive jungle action: skirmishes, sea chases, ambushes, rock‑hewn sanctuaries guarded by mummies and traps, and the fatal release of subterranean waters. An expedition reaches a hidden valley of descendants of Da Vasco’s party, ruled by the “Lady Who Dreams,” an oracle who wields a “Mirror of the World,” a bowl of metal-liquid giving prophetic visions. The Queen’s ritual authority forces a grim marriage test: drawn straw makes Francis the bridegroom by his chivalrous consent. Torres, driven by greed, steals gems and suffers grotesque retribution—seizure by a white hound, whirlpool exile, escape into subterranean currents and final death in a bone-filled pit—while the Queen hurls gems into the whirl to demonstrate the limits of wealth.

Parallel to the tropical drama is a New York financial crisis: Regan’s bear raid threatens Francis’s fortune. The recovery hinges on the mobilization of hidden wealth—portions of the Maya treasure, Henry’s aid, Enrico Solano and Charley Tippery’s resources—and on sudden interventions (notably an aeroplane rescue). Crucial revelations—Leoncia and Henry are actually full siblings, invalidating their romantic future; Yi Poon manipulates gossip and documents; the Queen recognizes Francis’s love for Leoncia—reshape motives and outcomes.

The book thus juxtaposes ritual‑mythic authority and melodramatic adventure with the impersonal mechanisms of modern capitalism, driven by Goddard’s punchy scenarios and London’s richer prose. Themes of kinship, rivalry, love, greed and the moral currency of treasure resolve an uneasy stalemate between ancient law and contemporary finance.