The action takes place in Southeast Asia (in Thailand, South Vietnam and Cambodia) a few years after the First World War. The young Frenchman Claude Vannek goes to Siam (the official name of Thailand until 1939 - E.M.) in search of ancient Khmer bas-reliefs. In Europe, demand has arisen for Asian rarities, and Claude hopes to get rich. On the ship he meets Perken - this German or Dane is one of the Europeans who are ready to stake life for the sake of glory and power. He has extensive experience in dealing with natives - according to rumors, he even managed to subjugate one of the local tribes. Claude is irresistibly drawn to Perken, for he guesses in him a soul mate - both are eager to fill their existence with meaning. Claude realizes that he needs a reliable companion: there are many dangers in the Siamese jungle of white people, and the most terrible of them is falling into the hands of unrequited savages. Claude reveals to Perken his plan: to follow the former Royal Road, which once connected Angkor (a grandiose complex of temples and palaces built in the 9th-13th centuries - E.M.) with the Menam River Delta and Bangkok. Dead cities and dilapidated temples stand there: almost all of them are already plundered, but the stones of thieves were not interested.
Perken agrees to take part in the expedition: he suddenly needed money and, in addition, he wants to find out about the fate of his disappeared friend - the traces of Grabo were lost in the places where my Thai tribe lives. Having agreed to meet in Phnom Penh, Perken goes ashore in Singapore, and Claude swims further to Saigon, where the branch of the French Institute is located, sending him on a business trip supposedly for archaeological searches. Claude receives requisition coupons, which gives the right to hire carters with carts. However, the young archaeologist is warned that all found bas-reliefs should remain in place - from now on they are only allowed to describe. In Bangkok, a representative of the French colonial administration advises Claude not to get involved with such a dangerous type as Perken: this adventurer tried to buy machine guns in Europe. At the meeting, Perken explains that his cherished goal is to protect his tribes from the invasion of Europeans. Stepping on the Royal Road, Kaod and Perken face eternity. The jungle embody an irresistible nature, capable of crushing at any second an insignificant insect - a person. White people are slowly moving forward, accompanied by the battle of Xa, the carriages, a guide and a Cambodian named Piles, who was appointed by the French commissioner, who took their idea very negatively. Initially, searches did not give any results - among the many ruins, plates with interesting carvings were not preserved. Claude is already starting to despair, but here luck smiles at the travelers - they find a bas-relief with the image of two dancers. According to the young archaeologist, more than five hundred thousand francs can be obtained for these stones. Perken was stunned: he went to Europe for money, while he should have searched in the jungle - each such plate costs ten machine guns and two hundred rifles. With incredible difficulty, Claude and Perken manage to cut bas-reliefs from the temple wall - the forest once again proves its power to them. At night, the pile and the conductor leave, and after them the carters disappear. Soon it becomes clear that it is impossible to find new ones, as Pile managed to warn the inhabitants of all nearby villages. With Claude and Perken, only Xa remains - fortunately, this Siamese manages to rule the wagon. Claude is shocked by the betrayal of the French commissioner: it is obvious that the bas-reliefs will have to be abandoned, otherwise they will be confiscated. Then Perken offers to get to Bangkok through the lands of the unconquered - having two thermoses with alcohol and beads, you can take a chance. In a small mountain village, travelers find a guide from the Stieng - one of my tribes. The natives claim that white lives among them, and Perken has no doubt that we are talking about Grabo. This is a man of rare courage, possessing a kind of primitive greatness. Like Perken, he longs for possession - and especially power over women. Grabo always despised death and was ready to go to the most terrible agony in order to prove his strength to himself - so, once he gave a bite to a scorpion. Stienghi probably appreciated these qualities: if his friend is alive, he is the herd leader.
The jungle looks increasingly hostile and dangerous. On the way to the main village of Stieng, travelers begin to worry: the guide does not always warn them of poisoned battle arrows and thorns - only Perken's experience allows them to avoid traps. Perhaps these are the machinations of other leaders, but it is possible that Grabo went wild among the Stiengs and is trying to defend his freedom. The terrible truth is revealed only on the spot: the stiengs, having blinded and robbed Grabo, turned him into a miserable slave - almost into an animal. For both whites, the same fate threatens: the young archaeologist is ready to put a bullet in his forehead, but Perken rejects this cowardly exit and goes to negotiations, well aware that he will be in case of failure. Having stumbled from tension, he lands his knee on the battle arrow stuck into the ground. He succeeds in accomplishing the impossible: the stiengs agree to let them out of the village, in order to then exchange Grabo for a hundred clay jugs that will be delivered to the appointed place. The agreement is sealed by an oath on rice vodka. Only after this Perken lubricates his swollen knee with iodine. He begins a great fever.
Five days later, travelers reach the Siamese village. The visiting English doctor leaves Perken no hope: with purulent arthritis, the wounded will live no more than two weeks - amputation could save him, but he would not have time to get to the city. Perken sends a report to Bangkok that the wild Stienghi mutilated a white man. Authorities immediately send a punitive detachment. Perken is being taken to the place of exchange in a cart - he is no longer able to move independently. Claude rides with him, as if enchanted by the breath of death. Following the liberation of Grabo, the hunt for stiengs begins - they are persecuted like animals, and in desperation they rush to the villages of hill tribes, who recognized Perken as their leader. But now the white man is so weak that he cannot inspire respect for himself: the Siamese people do not want to listen to him and blame him for causing violent attacks by the Stienghs. In vain Perken calls for a fight against the approaching civilization: if the mountaineers miss an army convoy, the railway will follow. In the views of the natives Perken clearly guesses indifference - for them he is already dead. As the drug addict warned, Perken's agony is terrible. Before the very end, nothing human remains in his face - he wheezes that there is no death, because only he is destined to die. Claude is burned with a desire to convey to a friend at least a fraction of fraternal sympathy, but when he hugs Perken, he looks at him as a creature from another world.
