The Mosquito Coast

Five days upriver from the Thurtles’ village, the Foxes arrive at the Spellgood mission, a large, impressive community of neat, well-maintained buildings arranged on picturesque grounds. Several vessels are docked as they sail up, and Charlie is aware of the shabby appearance of their own hut boat and how unkempt and deteriorated their physical conditions have become. Mother identifies the settlement as a mission, and Charlie knows his father is already enraged by its mere existence. Mother attempts to persuade Allie to continue up the river. Charlie then informs his family that this is the Spellgood’s mission. At this news, Mother changes her mind, imploring Allie to admit that those at the mission could help. Allie insists they need no help. He storms through the settlement with his family, expressing his disgust at everything he encounters, and quickly orders them back into the boat.

Allie continues only ten minutes up the river before docking alongside its bank. That night, conspiring to ask the Spellgoods for assistance, Charlie and Jerry attempt to leave using the dugout, only to find that it is missing. Instead, the boys swim to the settlement and manage to find Emily’s house. Emily joins the boys outside, and they explain to her what has happened to them, and their desperate situation.