King Solomon's Mines

urney at Bamangwato?" asked Sir Henry, as I pause

r mentioned it to a soul till to-day. I hear

lated both my hearers at

desert between me and them, and I am not aware that any white man ever got across it save one. But perhaps the best thing I can do is to tell you the legend of

Captain Good replied,

f nearly thirty years ago. That was when I was on my first elephant hunt in the Matabele country. His name was Evans, and he was killed the following year, poor fellow, by a wounded buffalo, and lies buried near the Zambesi Falls. I was telling Evans one night, I remember, of some wonderful workings I had found whilst hunting koodoo and eland in what is now the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal. I see they have come across these working

I was, I remember, listening open-eared to all these wonders, for I was young at the time, and this story of an ancient civilisation and of the treasures which those old Jewish or Phoenician adventurers used to extract from a country long since lapsed into the darkest barbarism too

u know that

said that the people who lived across those mountains were a "branch" of the Zulus, speaking a dialect of Zulu, but finer and bigger men even; that there lived

a place called Sitanda's Kraal, and a miserable place it was, for a man could get nothing to eat, and there was but little game about. I had an attack of fever, and was in a bad way generally, when one day a Portugee arrived with a single companion-a half-breed. Now I know your low-class Delagoa Portugee well. There is no greater devil unhung in a general way, battening as he does upon human agony and flesh in the shape of slaves. But this was quite a different type of man to the mean fellows wh

will remember you.' I laughed a little-I was too weak to laugh much-and watched him strike out for

at the hot red sun sinking down over the desert, when suddenly I saw a figure, apparently that of a European, for it wore a coat, on the slope of the rising ground opposite to me, about three hundred yards away. The figure crept along on its hands and

, of course," s

ilious fever, and his large dark eyes stood nearly out of his head, for all the flesh had gone. The

d I saw that his lips were cracked, and his tongue, w

e desert. I carried him into the tent and did what I could for him, which was little enough; but I saw how it must end. About eleven o'clock he grew quieter, and I lay down for a little rest and went to sleep. At dawn I woke again, and in the half light saw Silves

and pointing with his long, thin arm, 'but I shal

resolution. 'Friend,' he said, turning towa

'yes, lie down

am dying! You have been good to me. I will give you the writing. Perhaps you will ge

e. It was fastened with a little strip of hide, what we call a rimpi, and this he tried to loose, but could not. He handed it to me. 'Untie

on those mountains which no white foot ever pressed before or since. His name was José da Silvestra, and he lived three hundred years ago. His slave, who waited for him on this side of the mountains, found him dead, and brought the writing home to Delagoa. I

der again, and in an

p, with big boulders on his breast; so I do not think tha

" said Sir Henry, in a

; what was in it?"

lated it for me, and had forgotten all about it by the next morning. The original rag is at my home in Durban, together with poor Dom Jo

llegible) bring the matter to the knowledge of the king, that he may send an army which, if they live through the desert and the mountains, and can overcome the brave Kukuanes and their devilish arts, to which end many priests should be brought, will make him the richest king since Solomon. With my own eyes I have seen the countless diamonds stored in Solomon's treasure chamber beh

Silves

of the map, drawn by the dying hand of the old Dom with hi

n at most ports, but may I be hung for a mutineer if ever I heard a yarn

. "I suppose you are not hoaxing us? It is, I know,

those silly fellows who consider it witty to tell lies, and who are for ever boasting to newcomers of extraordinar

n," he said, "I beg your pardon; I see very well you do not wish to dece

answered, somewhat mollified, for really when I came to consider the

was a Bechuana by birth, a good hunter, and for a native a very clever man. That morning on which

are you off to this t

'we are after something wo

be?' I said, for I was

g worth more than go

ower my dignity by seeming inquisitive, but I was p

s,' s

k no n

' said

what is i

re going aft

teering in the wrong direction;

f Suliman's Berg?'-that is, S

Ay

heard of the d

rd a foolish

who came from there, and reached Natal wit

if he tries to reach Suliman's country, and so will you if th

rather like to try a new country myself; the

old man" gets a grip of your yellow throat, and

running. 'Good-bye, Baas,' he said. 'I didn't like to start without bidding you

going to Suliman's Berg,

as bound to make his fortune somehow, or try to;

o your master, Jim, and promise not to give it to him t

s, B

s . . . climb the snow of Sheba's left breast, till he reaches

ce on it implicitly. You are not to give it to him now, because I don't want him back asking me

at is all I know about your brother

m going to trace him to Suliman's Mountains, and over them if necessary,

d me. It seemed to me that to undertake such a journey would be to go to certain death, and put

wild-goose chases of that sort, and we should only end up like my poor friend Silv

Captain Good looked

ent of anything untoward happening to us or to you, that your son shall be suitably provided for. You will see from this offer how necessary I think your presence. Also if by chance we should reach this place, and find diamonds, they shall belong to you a

neezed at by a poor hunter and trader. But the job is the biggest I have come across, a

," answere

d in, and dreamt about poor long

he Arabic form o

--- leve a cousa ao conhecimento d' El Rei, para que possa mandar um exercito que, se desfiler pelo deserto e pelas montonhas e mesmo sobrepujar os bravos Kukuanes e suas artes diabolicas, pelo que se deviam trazer muitos padres Far o Rei mais rico depois de Salom?o Com meus proprios olhos vé os di amantes sem conto guardados nas camaras do thesouro de Salom?o a traz da mo