Pleasant Point

After the adventure against Stephan and Haggoth, Zagor returns to Darkwood, but another of his most dangerous enemies reappears: the diabolical Mortimer. A true criminal mastermind, Mortimer has devised a new and relentless scheme. Chico has disappeared and seems to have embarked, of his own free will, on a ship bound for the Tropics (in reality, he has fallen victim to the deception of one of Mortimer’s accomplices, Jonathan Clark).

Zagor refuses to believe his friend would abandon him and sets off after him, arriving just in time to find himself imprisoned together with Chico aboard a ship sailing toward Haiti. Meanwhile, on the island, the diabolical Mortimer always accompanied by the beautiful Sybil, has set in motion an incredible plot involving the Egyptian Hammad (an old acquaintance of the Spirit with the Hatchet). With the aim of carrying out a long-postponed revenge, Mortimer has managed to lure Zagor and Chico to Haiti, in the heart of the Caribbean, to make them unwitting accomplices in his audacious plan: to seize 50 million francs, the first installment the Haitian government must pay for France’s recognition of its independence, and pin the blame on the two heroes.

Mortimer succeeds in gaining the trust of Hammad, who acts as intermediary and guarantor of the payments between the Haitian government and the French soldiers, thus learning every detail of the operation. He then secures the complicity of Bertrand Duvalier, a respected government official, who allows Mortimer to steal the gold and later claims that the chests were taken away by two men in French uniforms, easily identifiable as Zagor and Chico, who are being held prisoner in a hut and dressed as French soldiers precisely to be handed over to the Haitian authorities.

Nothing seems capable of stopping the implacable clockwork mechanism devised by the criminal genius, to the point that Mortimer cannot resist revealing himself to Zagor and Chico and boasting that he is behind the entire plot. But shortly before the soldiers arrive, Guedé Danseur enters the scene, breaking into the hut and freeing his old friends.

At this point, the Spirit with the Hatchet is determined at all costs to thwart the infernal scheme of the criminal mastermind, reopening a contest that seemed already decided. The next day, Zagor, Chico, and Guedé Danseur infiltrate Hammad’s villa and explain the situation to him.

Thanks to Hammad’s information, Zagor sets off in pursuit of Mortimer and, after several hair-raising adventures, reaches the vessel prepared for Mortimer’s escape with the gold, only to discover that Mortimer, together with Sybil and Duvalier, has taken Chico and Hammad prisoner.

Zagor is tied up and disarmed as the boat puts out to sea. Mortimer intends to kill the three enemies by throwing them to the sharks. The first to be cast into the water is Hammad, but Zagor manages to free himself and hurls Mortimer overboard, then dives in to save the Egyptian. Sybil, attempting to rescue Mortimer, also falls into the water and is devoured before the horrified eyes of all, especially Mortimer’s who is dragged under by the waves and disappears from sight, while Zagor and Hammad manage to climb back aboard.

Zagor and Chico are completely cleared, thanks both to Hammad’s testimony and Duvalier’s confession, and the 50 million in gold is recovered by the Haitian government.

On a deserted beach, we finally see the surviving Mortimer, now more determined than ever in his hatred of Zagor.