The world believed that aviator Tom Franklin was dead. Years before, he had set out on a pioneering transpacific flight alone-and vanished! When he returned, as it from the grave, Franklin and a mysterious woman flew a battered plane that had been repaired with plates of pure gold. Desperately seeking the help of Doc Savage, the mighty Man of Bronze, Franklin and his curvaceous charge fall into the clutches of diamond smuggler Blackbird Hinton and his cutthroat crew-but not before the bronze adventurer hears of their plight.From Manhattan to Cape Town ensues a quest as dangerous as any in recorded history. One that will embroil the compassionate yet hard-fisted Doc Savage and his resourceful men in a raging struggle for control of one of history's most closely guarded mysteries. The lost secret of Python Isle!