Sam Steele is now captain of a ship an old and battered craft, but his own command. He is sailing it around South America to California. A storm forces Sams ship to the Panamanian coast. There, the travelers encounter the Techla Indians, descendants of the Aztecs. The Techlas are hostile to outsiders; Sam and his crew are tempted by the Indians abundant gold and gems. Traveling ashore in Moits amphibious auto, the Americans attempt to manipulate the Techla, without success. Sam Steeles Adventures in Panama is a boys adventure novel written by L. Frank Baum, and published in 1907 under the pseudonym Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald. The book was a sequel to the first Sam Steele novel, Sam Steeles Adventures on Land and Sea. The book was reprinted two years later, in 1908, with the alternative title The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska.