Young Indiana Jones and the Ghostly Riders is the seventh young adult novel in the series from Random House and the third by author William McCay. It was released in 1991.
Publisher's summary[]
A holiday in Wales...in the shadow of terror!
The Wales that Indy visits is coal country. But long ago King Arthur and his warriors roamed there. So it's a great place to explore. And sure enough, Indy finds an ancient treasure!
But he finds danger as well...a ruthless plot to put a coal mine out of business! When Indy discovers who's behind it, he could be put out of business too.
Before Indy knows it, he's running for his life...and straight into more trouble—a band of ghostly riders!
Plot summary[]
Wales, October 1913[]
Fourteen-year-old Indiana Jones attends Charenton Academy in England while his father lectures at Oxford. Bullied for being American, Indy befriends Cerdic Sandyford, a Welsh classmate fascinated by the legends of King Arthur. When the term ends for Halloween, Cerdic invites Indy to spend the holiday at his family's home in Trewen, Wales. On the train ride west, Cerdic shares tales of Arthur's ghostly riders—spectral knights said to appear every seven years on Halloween night. Upon arrival, Indy meets Eric Wace, the mine's engineer, and Charles Gorham, a rival mine owner who mocks Cerdic's father for treating his workers fairly.
Exploring the Welsh countryside, Indy and Cerdic discover an ancient silver dragon ring hidden in a rock near Arthur's Fountain, moments before a dead oak crashes down beside them. Back at the Sandyford Colliery, disaster strikes when the mine's ventilation fans are sabotaged, forcing operations to halt. That night, the boys spy on Gorham's secret meeting of mine managers and overhear that he hired someone to destroy the Sandyford mine with explosives. They rush home to warn Cerdic's father, who immediately leads a rescue team underground with Wace and several miners.
Mine explosion[]
Although ordered to stay behind, Indy and Cerdic secretly descend the mine shaft. At the bottom, Indy hears a faint hissing sound and discovers a bundle of dynamite hidden beneath the elevator platform with its fuse already burning. He leaps into the pit, tears out the fuse, and stamps it out—saving the mine from destruction. Moments later, however, a second explosion rocks the tunnels, causing a cave-in.
Indy, Cerdic, and Wace rush deeper underground to find Cerdic's trapped father. Ignoring Wace's pleas to retreat, the boys press on through collapsing passages until they reach the blocked mine face. Indy digs through the rubble and squeezes past a fallen slab of stone, finding Mr. Sandyford unconscious but alive. Together, the boys pull him free just before the tunnel collapses completely behind them. When they return to the surface, Indy notices Wace's growing unease and guilt. Late that night, he sees the engineer riding off alone toward the next valley.
A trip through time[]
Following Wace's trail, Indy discovers him meeting with Gorham and overhears them discussing payment for the sabotage. When they spot him listening, Indy flees and leaps from a moving train into the fog. Lost in the mist on Halloween night, he encounters the legendary ghostly riders, phantom knights led by the sorceress Morgan le Fay. She draws Indy into the age of King Arthur, revealing that the battle of Camlan has just ended and that Arthur's followers are fleeing with the king's treasure. Indy joins them as they are pursued by Saxon raiders, and Morgen's magic cloaks them in mist—the same ghostly riders of legend.
Morgen and Indy bury the treasure between two great stones before she sends him back to his own time. Remembering the site, Indy and Cerdic dig there the next morning and uncover Arthur's hidden hoard. When Wace arrives with a gun, the boys outwit him and expose his partnership with Gorham. The treasure saves the Sandyford mine.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
- Artorius (Mentioned only)
- Cerdic (Mentioned only)
- Dr. Chadwick (Mentioned only)
- Dai
- Gawain (Mentioned only)
- Charles Gorham
- Gwenhynfar (Mentioned only)
- Henry Walton Jones, Sr. (Mentioned only)
- Indiana Jones
- Morgen
- Herman Mueller (Mentioned only)
- Herman Mueller, Senior (Mentioned only)
- Owen
- Dr. Padarn
- Cerdic Sandyford
- Mr. Sandyford
- Mrs. Sandyford
- Toby (Mentioned only)
- Eric Wace
Locations[]
- France (Mentioned only)
- United Kingdom
- England
- Bristol
- Cadbury Castle
- Charenton Academy
- Oxford (Mentioned only)
- Somerset
- Cadbury Castle
- Wales
- Cardiff (Mentioned only)
- Llantrisant
- Sandyford Colliery
- Sydney Colliery
- Trewen
- Arthur's Throne
- Arthur's Fountain
- Vales of Rhondda
- England
Artifacts[]
- Holy Grail (Mentioned only)
- Roman denarius coin
Miscellanea[]
- Bear (Mentioned only)
- The Quest of Gawain (Mentioned only)
- Search for the Holy Grail (Mentioned only)
- Men of Iron (Mentioned only)
- Celts (Mentioned only)
- Anglo-Saxons (Mentioned only)
- Halloween (Mentioned only)
- Dragon (Vision)
- Battle of Camlann (Mentioned only)
- Snake (Vision)
Cover gallery[]
| ADVENTURE TIMELINE | ||
|---|---|---|
| previous | next | |
| September 1913 | October 1913 | December 1913 |
| Indiana Jones Jr et le Triangle des Bermudes | Young Indiana Jones and the Ghostly Riders | Young Indiana Jones and the Circle of Death |