Marie: An Episode in the Life of the Late Allan Quatermain

. Their first rush had taught them a bitter lesson, of which the fruit was evident in the crippled or dying men who rolled to and fro baked in the hot sun within a few yards of the stoep, n

e advanced by means of trenches, but of these the Quabies

d take shelter behind them, lying one on top of the other. Of course, those savages who carried the first stones were exposed to our fire, with the result that many of them fell, but there were always plenty more behind. As they were being built at a dozen different points, and we had but seven guns, before we could reload, a particular schanz, of which perhaps the first builders had f

but one window, and thus avoiding the fire that might be poured upon them from the various openings under the veranda. At first I wondered why they selected this e

ck) they began to throw into the thatch assegais to which were attached bunches of burning grass. Many of these went o

hould fall upon our natives, who were losing heart and would no longer stay beneath them. But the Quabies,

, till they went down in heaps. Almost at our last charg

se clouds of smoke, the screams of the trap

as burst in by a

een dreadful, as he was taken alive. The servant I saw them assegai, so at least he died at once. I fired my last shot, killing a fellow who was flourishing a battle-axe, then dashed the butt of the

is finished. I cannot fall into the

ill. I have my pistol. One ba

re not risk it. Come now, I am ready," and she knelt down, opening her arms to

self," I answered hoarsely. "We have got to go to

o was in the place with

he said; and turning, he

"it will be time when the door is dow

unt on it. Nothing can save us now unless the others

ed with a dreadful laugh: "I wonder

you do love me, don't you, as I love you? Maybe that's better than living on h

t we were making a good end after a brave fight. They were battering at the d

hat which I had snatched from the flank of the horse, and it was dropped with a scream. Black hands were thrust through the hole, and the Hott

eady," I gasped,

answered faintly. "It won't

ed the muzzle within an inch of her forehead and began to press the trigger. My God! yes,

e savages and the shrieks and groans of wounded and dying men, that I heard the sweetest soun

ile I can. If I fall, scramble through the window-you can do it from the chest beneath-dro

moaned. "I would r

ed savagely, and bounded forw

he pistol, and the bullet that had been meant for Marie's brain scattered that of the first of them, and the bul

though he were nothing, and being but light, both of us were thrown backwards to the ground. I scrambled to my feet again, defenceless now, for the spear was broken in the Kaffir, and awaited the end. Looking back once more I saw that Marie had either failed to get through the wind

ew well shout: "Do you live, Marie?" and in th

my will seemed to thrust me towards Marie. I reached her and threw my hand that sti

It is Allan, Allan w

or did she for a while, for we b

kissies" they are called, and as her eyes were watching me I knew that she lived. By her stood a tall and dark young man whom I had never seen before. He was holding her hand and looking at her anxiously, and even then I felt angry with him. Also I saw other things; for instance, my old father leaning down and looking at me anxiously,

dealt to me by that great Quabie whom Hans and I had received upon our spears, doubtless as he fell. Hans, by the way, was there also, an awful and yet a ludicrous spectacle, for the Quabie had fallen right on the top of him and lain

towards me and fell upon her knees at my side, muttering words that I could not catch, for they choked in her throat. Then Hans too

y son, I am proud of you; you have do

in if I could, thank y

Mynheer prédicant?" asked the tall stranger, speaking i

himself up. "But if what I hear is true, there was a Frenchman in that house wh

I do, half. The rest of me is Po

s that must surprise Him," rep

which even then both angered and amused me faintly,

of his only, beloved child, rage with the Kaffirs who had tried to kill her, and extreme distress at the loss of most

t he never did, poor man. Then he began to rave at Leblanc, who had brought all this dreadful disaster upon his house, saying that it was a judgment on himself for having sheltered an atheist and a drunkard for so many years, just because he was Frenc

n the "black devils," and called on all there to help him to recover his beasts and kill the thieves. Most of those present-they were about thirty in all, not counting the Kaffir and Hottentot after-riders-answered that

that my fath

, is the Lord's, it would be well, especially for the Heer Marais, to return thanks for what h

r of the world acting through man. Perhaps those present did not quite understand what he (my father) had learned from Hans the Hottentot, that I, his son, had been about to blow out the brains of Marie Marais and my own when the sound o

d but little over twelve hours before, till the arrival of the rescue party. Never have I seen a tale followed with deeper interest, and when at last Hans pointed to me lying on the ground and said, "T

and had it not been for him I could not have

d again, and Mar

to these two I

life, he never could really master that language-and the stalwart Boers, kneeling round him, said "Amen." As the

ene when I went within an ace of killing her. After this the Boers and Marais's Kaffirs, or rather slaves, whom he had collected from where they lived away from the house, to the number of thirty or forty, started to follow the defeated Quabie, leaving about ten of their number as a guard. Here I may mention that of the seven or e

ision of Marie bending over me and making me take food of some sort-milk or soup, I suppose-for it seems I would touch it from no other hand. Also I had visions of the tall shape of my white-haired father, who, like most missionaries, understood something of surg

ting, and that of my father trying to calm him. Presently Marie entered the room, drawing-to behind her a Kaffir karoos, which served as a curtain, for the door, it wi

dare say we shall not be much in future, I want to thank you from my heart for all that you did to save me. Had it not been for you

yone else would have done as much, even if they did not love you as I do. Let us thank

ook he

ave come back fr

tch them and rec

exhausted, and those had their throats cut. My father wanted to follow them and attack the Red Kaffirs in the mountains, but the others would not go. They said there are thousands of them, and that it would be a mad war, from which not one of them would return alive. He is wild with grief and rage, for, Allan dear, we are almost ruined, especially as the British Gove