The Black Pearl - Softcover

Old Salazar held the pearl to the light and turned it around and around. He gave it to his son, who had found the pearl in the underwater cave of the lagoon.

"You have in your hand the Pearl of the Universe, the Paragon of Pearls, the Great Pearl of Heaven!" he said.

When the pearl merchants wouldn't meet his price, Blas Salazar presented the fabulous gem to the Madonna of the church of La Paz. "The House of Salazar shall be favored in heaven, now and forever," he proudly proclaimed and firmly believed.

But there were others who believed a curse had surely been brought down upon Salazar and Son and their fleet, for the Manat Diablo, monster devilfish, would reclaim his treasure.

And it was young Ramon who would have to undo the evil he had begun.

Scott O'Dell was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 23, 1898. He attended Occidental College, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stanford University, and University of Rome. He worked as a technical director for Paramount, a cameraman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and a book editor of a Los Angeles newspaper before serving in the United States Air Force during World War II. The recipient of numerous book awards, he established the Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction in 1981. He died on October 15, 1989.