This story starts with our usual four heroes travelling by canoe deep into the forest of Central America in British Honduras. Gimlet has been entrusted with a mission by the Colonial Office to investigate an attack on a professional orchid collector named Banford and his native porters. After weeks of travel our heroes arrive at a deserted Indian village, the scene of the attack. Our heroes led by their chief native guide, Jose, set out to find the jungle trail that had been followed by their predecessors. They come across a small hill, some two hundred feet high, and believe they have arrived at the ruined city of Uazatikel.