Used paperback in good condition. Cover and pages in good condition. Pages shows normal discolouration for age. Old price sticker on flyleaf. 366 pages. Published by Pan Books, 1977. ISBN 0330200461.

Makassang, an island in the tropic Java Seas, at once savage and splendid, red with the stain of blood and the glow of rubies.

Richard Marriott has wandered for 10 years as a disillusioned freebooter after his father's death, in England, has revealed him a pauper and a bastard and lost him the woman he had loved. Now his private warship with its trained crew of fighting seamen has gone aground on a reef off Makassang. Richard is summoned to the Rajah whose threats and promise of money cause Richard to accept the offer to drive out insurgents under an old enemy, Black Harris.

Successful, he is adopted by the Rajah and given his daughter, Princess Sunara, in marriage. Two more victories in other uprisings and the birth of a son keep Richard in favour but when restlessness and inactivity spur him to plan for a model kingdom he is accused of treason and ostracized. An immediate threat to his life is averted when an HM warship arrives with Richard's half-brother in command and, through his support, when the Rajah is killed, Richard becomes the new Rajah with the chance of fulfilling his dreams for his little country.

Fierce battles, voluptuous dances and barbaric tortures breathtakingly mingle in this tremendous historical novel.