King Solomon's Mines

ng asserted itself. I could sleep no more. I had been dreaming that I was bathing in a running stream, with green banks and trees upon them, and I awoke to find myself in this ar

after some friction and with an effort that I was able to open them. It was not far from dawn, but there was none of the

little pocket copy of the "Ingoldsby Legends" which I had broug

le boy held

filled with

ows between Rh

nd I knew that the whole consecrated curse of the Catholic Church should fall upon me for so doing. I almost think that I must have been a little light-headed with thirst, weariness and the want of food; for I fell to thinking how astonished the Cardinal and his nice little boy and the jackdaw would have looked to see a burnt up, br

tles upside down, and licked their tops, but it was a failure; they were dry as a bone. Good, who had charge of the flask of brandy, got it ou

nd water we shal

nt that no great faith could be put in the map. Now it was gradually growing light, and as we sat staring blankly at each other, I observed the Hottentot

ing simultaneously we went to where

is fresh Springbok

go far from water,"

"I forgot; and t

an is in a desperate position, how he catches at the slightest hope, and

niffing the hot air for all the world like an old Im

water,"

r we knew what a wonderful inst

d revealed so grand a sight to our astonished eyes

ther such in the world, measuring each of them at least fifteen thousand feet in height, standing not more than a dozen miles apart, linked together by a precipitous cliff of rock, and towering in awful white solemnity straight into the sky. These mountains placed thus, like the pillars of a gigantic gateway, are shaped after the fashion of a woman's breasts, and at times the mists and shadows beneath them take the form of a recumbent woman, veiled mysteriously in sleep. Their bases swell gently from the plain, looking at

g lights played upon the snow and the brown and swelling masses beneath, and then, as though to veil the majestic sight from our curious eyes, strange vapours and clouds gathered and increased around the mountains, till presently we could only tra

cloud-clad privacy, before our thirst-lit

e eye might reach there was nothing but arid sweltering sand and karoo scrub. We walked round the hillock and gazed about anxiously o

id angrily to Ventv?ge

ed his ugly snub

he answered; "it is

he clouds, and about two months hen

thoughtfully. "Perhaps it is on t

r heard of water being fo

e scrambled up the sandy sides of the hillock, Umbopa l

s, "Here is water!" he

or a good imitation of it, and that was enough for us. We gave a bound and a rush, and in another second we were all down on our stomachs sucking up the uninviting fluid as though it were nectar fit for the gods. Heavens, how we did drink! Then when we had done drinking we tore off o

y been able to touch a mouthful for twenty-four hours, and ate our fill. Then we smoked a pipe, and la

f gratitude to the shade of the long-departed da Silvestra, who had set its position down so accurately on the tail of his shirt. The wonderful thing to us was t

ith the two majestic Breasts, now only about twenty miles off, seemed to be towering right above us, and looked grander than ever. At the approach of evening we marched again, and, to cut a long story short, by daylight next morning found ourselves upon the lowest slopes of Sheba's left breast, for which we had been steadily steering. By this time our water was exhausted once more, and we were suffer

series, had pretty well finished us. A few hundred yards above us were some large lumps of lava, and towards these we steered with the intention of lying down beneath their shade. We reached them, and to our surprise, so far as we had a capacity for surprise left in us, on a little plateau or ridge close by we saw that the clinker was covered with

et up and hobble towards the patch of green, and a few minutes afterwards, to my great astonishment, I perceived that usually very dignified individual dancing an

a, son of a fool?"

Macumazahn," and again

melon. We had hit upon a patch of wild

next me; and in another minute his f

had done, and poor fruit as they were, I

n the hot sun to grow cold by evaporation, we began to feel exceedingly hungry. We had still some biltong left, but our stomachs turned from biltong, and besides, we were obliged to be very spari

whispered the Hottentot, throwing himself on

the pauw bunched up together, as I expected that they would, and I fired two shots straight into the thick of them, and, as luck would have it, brought one down, a fine fellow, that weighed about twenty pounds. In half an hour we had a

er any anxiety about water, for we knew that we should soon get plenty of snow. But the ascent had now become very precipitous, and we made but slow progress, not more than a mile an hour. Also that night we ate our last morsel of biltong. As yet, with the exception of the pauw, we had seen no living thing on the mountain, no

seemed probable that it was only to die of hunger. The events of the next three miser

with us. Struggled on all day, but found no more melons, having evidently passed out of their district. Saw no game of

g else. Camped at night under the edge of a great plateau. Cold bitter. Drank a little brandy each, and huddled ourselves together, each wrapped up in hi

ke most Hottentots, he cannot stand cold. Pangs of hunger not so bad, but have a sort of numb feeling about the stomach. Others say the same. We are now on a level with the precipitous chain, or wall of lava, linking the two Breasts, and the view is glorious. Behind us the glowing desert rolls away to the horizon, an

se it is not very interesting reading; also w

there was much use in glaring, for we could see nothing to eat. We did not accomplish more than seven miles that day. Just before sunset we found ourselves exactly under the nipple of Sheba's left Breast, which towered thousands of feet into the air, a vast smooth hil

e ought to be somewhere near that c

I, "if there

alk like that; I have every faith in the Dom; r

we are dead men, that is all ab

ide me, wrapped in his blanket, and with a leather belt strapped so tightly round his stomach, t

ing towards the spring

hundred yards from us perceived wh

cave," sa

ried to forget our miseries in sleep. But the cold was too intense to allow us to do so, for I am convinced that at this great altitude the thermometer cannot have marked less than fourteen or fifteen degrees below freezing point. What such a temperature meant to us, enervated as we were by hardship, want of food, and the great heat of the desert, the reader may imagine better than I can describe. Suffice it to say that it was something as near death from exposure as I have ever felt. There we sat hour after

ve a deep sigh. Then his teeth stopped chattering. I did not think anything of it at the time, concluding that he had g

lso it looked upon Ventv?gel, sitting there amongst us, stone dead. No wonder his back felt cold, poor fellow. He had died when I heard him sigh, and was now frozen almost stiff. Shocked be

they were cold, straight into the mouth of the cave. Suddenly

t long-was another form, of which the head rested on its chest and the long arms hung do

our shattered nerves. One and all we scrambled out of t