The Explorer

NY: McGraw-Hill, 1964. BCE/BOMC. Hardcover textured. VeryGood/Good. 5.75"x8.5" 433 pgs. Blue textured boards w/author initials blind-stamped on front. DJ by William Steinel. Spine straight, binding straight but flexible, pages clean w/tone. Not x-library, unclipped (no price), unmarked. Water stain on bottom of DJ inside flap. Edge wear w/small chips. Secure ship w/track #. The Explorer is the rich, compelling story of Nicolas Hale, a transplanted Vermonter, as persevering as he is personable, whose inspiration is the great discovery of the Machu Picchu in Peru by Hiram Bingham. Nicolas makes no claim to being a great scientist himself, but he knows "the meaning of clouds and mist, rain and streams and waterfalls," and can follow their lead - all the way to a lost city submerged in a lake high among the Andes. Although he is extremely attractive to women, Nicolas has avoided marriage until his desire for a son to inherit his name and carry on his work impels him to propose to Margaret Porterfield, a lovely and aristocratic young Virginian whom he visualizes as the type of woman he would choose for his son's mother. Margaret's restricted means have obliged her to live so quietly on her beautiful ancestral estate, Hill' End, that she has become almost a recluse and has largely withdrawn from the social and official circles of Washington which were her natural milieu. Nicolas has long been her beau ideal and she readily consents to a hasty marriage, five days before his departure on a fresh exploratory venture in Peru. He tells her candidly she can never share his life there, that exploring is his only great passion and that she will always be obliged to face protracted separations from him. But he then falls unexpectedly and deeply in love with her. During the next five years, Nicolas is only intermittently at Hills' End; most of his time is spent in the Andes searching for the submerged city whose discovery, if his hopes are fulfilled, will bring him lasting fame and fortune. But one disaster after another -= a landslide, an infected wound, and finally an earthquake - cause repeated delays and discouragements. His determination to reach his goal never falters, but meanwhile, almost inevitably, the separation from his wife has serious consequences as far as their personal relationship is concerned. It has been said that there is "always a touch of fever in the Washington scene," and Margaret is not immune to it, nor indifferent to the admiration of a charming young Frenchman who becomes the director at East Lawn, the plantation which adjoins her estate. The outcome - of both love affair and exploration - will hold Mrs. Keyes' readers spellbound to the last page.