H.G. Wells was an English writer famous for science fiction, but "The Treasure in the Forest" is a tense adventure story about greed and danger. It is about two men, Evans and Hooker, who sail in a canoe to a lonely tropical island to find hidden treasure. The story shows how greed can make people ignore danger, and how it can lead to terrible consequences.
Evans and Hooker approach the island in their canoe, studying the old treasure map.
Approaching the Island
The story begins as Evans and Hooker approach the island in their canoe. They are tired, thirsty, and worn out from a long night journey across the sea. Hooker holds an old, damaged paper map, and the two men study it carefully. The map shows a bay, a reef, a river, and a star marking the treasure's exact location. The writing on the map is in Chinese, because the map originally belonged to Chinese sailors.
Evans's dream reveals how the two men first learned of the treasure from Chang-hi.
Evans's Dream and the Story of the Treasure
As the canoe drifts closer to the island, Evans grows very tired and falls asleep. In his dream, we learn how the two men found out about the treasure. Some time earlier, they had secretly overheard three Chinese men talking at night around a fire. One of them, Chang-hi, had found gold ingots that were buried long ago from a wrecked Spanish ship. Chang-hi had reburied the treasure alone, boasting that it was completely safe. Evans and Hooker later attacked Chang-hi and forced him to give up the map. In the dream, Chang-hi's frightened but strange, knowing grin appears again and again, though at the time, Evans and Hooker did not understand what that grin truly meant.
Following the map, the two men push through the dense, shadowy forest.
Into the Forest
When Evans wakes up, the canoe has reached the lagoon. The two men paddle to shore, drink water from the river to satisfy their terrible thirst, and then push through the thick, shadowy forest, following the map's directions. The forest is cool, dark, and full of strange plants and hanging vines, very different from the blazing heat outside. As they walk, they begin to feel a mix of excitement and unease.
The men discover a dead Chinaman beside a hole filled with gold ingots.
Finding the Dead Man and the Gold
Following the straight line marked on the map, the two men finally reach the spot near the river where the treasure should be. But instead of celebrating, they are shocked to find the dead body of a Chinese man lying face down among the trees, his neck and hands strangely swollen and purple. Nearby lies a spade and a freshly dug hole. At first, they are confused and disturbed, but when Hooker looks into the hole, he shouts with excitement — the treasure is still there. Evans quickly begins pulling out the heavy gold ingots, forgetting his shock at the dead body. As he digs, a small thorn pricks his hand, but he barely notices it in his excitement.
Carrying the heavy gold ingots, Evans suddenly grows weak and collapses.
Carrying the Treasure
The two men wrap the gold ingots in Evans's jacket and try to carry them back to the canoe. Hooker cannot stop thinking about the dead man, saying there is something familiar and disturbing about him, but Evans dismisses his fear, saying all Chinamen look alike to him. This shows a moment of racist superiority in Evans's attitude, a detail Wells includes to reveal something about the narrow-mindedness of his characters. As they walk with the heavy load, Evans suddenly feels pain and weakness in his arms, and soon he cannot continue. He collapses against a tree, his body twisting in pain, and warns Hooker not to touch him.
Hooker realizes the thorns are poisoned, just before the poison takes hold of him too.
The Poisoned Thorn and the Ending
While trying to help Evans, Hooker feels a tiny prick on his own thumb — the same kind of thorn that had pricked Evans earlier. In a horrifying moment, Hooker suddenly understands everything: the thorns are poisoned, just like the ones used by Dyak tribes in their blow-guns. This is what Chang-hi's mysterious "assurance of safety" had meant all along — he had booby-trapped the treasure with poisoned thorns so that no one else could take the gold and survive. Chang-hi's frightening grin from Evans's dream finally makes sense.
Evans dies from the poison, his body left twitching and still on the forest floor. Hooker, now poisoned as well, tries desperately to suck the poison out of his thumb, but soon realizes it is useless. In the final moments of the story, Hooker simply sits down beside the pile of gold and his dying friend, resting his head in his hands, waiting for the poison to take effect, as a light breeze stirs the trees above him.
The ending of the story is left deliberately unclear, but it strongly suggests that both men will die from the poison, alone in the forest, surrounded by the very treasure they killed and risked everything for. The story teaches an important lesson about greed: the desire for wealth blinded both Evans and Hooker to clear warning signs — the dead body, their exhaustion, their fear — until it was far too late. Wells suggests that greed does not just endanger the body; it clouds judgment and destroys the ability to recognize real danger, even when it is lying right in front of you.
Key Points to Remember
Evans — impulsive, greedy, and dismissive of danger; shows racist attitudes toward the Chinese men and ignores warning signs until it is too late.
Hooker — more cautious and thoughtful than Evans, but still driven by greed; he is the one who eventually understands the truth about the poisoned thorns, but only after it is too late to save himself.
Chang-hi — the Chinese man who originally found and reburied the treasure; he booby-trapped it with poisoned thorns to protect it, showing that he was clever and determined to keep his secret safe even after death.
Setting — a hot, remote tropical island with a lagoon, reef, and dense forest, creating a feeling of isolation and danger throughout the story.
Theme — greed can blind people to danger and lead them straight toward their own destruction.
Study this summary carefully to answer exam questions on plot, character, and theme in "The Treasure in the Forest."