The Secret of the Unicorn
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The Secret of the Unicorn (Le Secret de la Licorne) is one of a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. The Secret of the Unicorn is the first part of one of the three multi-book stories in the Tintin series, the story continuing in Red Rackham's Treasure
The Secret of the Unicorn is the eleventh in the series.
The storyline
There is an amazing epidemic of wallet-snatchings around a town in Belgium (visibly Brussels, if we are to judge by the drawings of the Old Street market). Thomson and Thompson - who lose their wallets to the dozens to the thief in the course of the story - look for the culprit at the Old Street market where they meet Tintin. Tintin buys a boat model of an old ship for Captain Haddock, but, as he does, two men try to haggle it off him. The first is a Mr. Ivan Ivonovitch Sakharine, the second is later revealed to be Barnaby. Sakharine calls up later to try to get Tintin to sell his ship, although unsuccessfully, and gives him his card. A little while later, the mast breaks, and Tintin repairs it,
When the captain visits Tintin, he sees the ship and is astonished! He shows Tintin a portrait of one of his ancestors, Sir Francis Haddock, the captain of a 17th century navy vessel. In its background is the very same ship, called "The Unicorn", but, when they return to Tintin's flat, the model boat has been stolen! He visits Sakharine to see if he stole it. He finds an exact replica of his ship in Sakharine's collection, but the mast isn't broken. The ship carries the letters "UNICORN" on the back. When he returns, his flat has been searched, and while cleaning up he finds a mysterious parchment. He figures out that it holds the clue to finding a king's ransom-worth of treasure. He rushes to the Captain's place.
The captain discovers some old items of his great ancestor: a cutlass, a hat, and a book which tells of how he destroyed some pirates. Eagerly the captain reads it out aloud to Tintin, sometimes getting a bit carried away while describing the battle scenes! Tintin himself is so taken in by the story that he does not even bother to take off his raincoat.
They eventually come to the conclusion that the pirate Red Rackham had stolen some diamonds from a Spanish navy vessel, and when the evil villain was killed by Francis Haddock, his treasure sank along with his ship. The boat model which was stolen is just one of three which hold three parchments which will give the treasure's location.
Tintin is later kidnapped by the Bird Brothers who believe that he has the parchments. They are behind the stolen ship model because they have discovered the second parchment and the fact that they needed all three. The parchment themselves, however, were stolen by a kleptomaniac specializing in wallets, who was the thief looked for by Thomson and Thompson and who is eventually cornered with Tintin's help.
By the end of the story, Tintin and Haddock have the parchments, and discover where they will find the treasure. The sequel, Red Rackham's Treasure, continues the story.
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