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

someone must go to see whether his nephew still lived, to which the other Boers

elf. Personally, she wished that the lion had taken him instead of the worthy Hottentot, although it gave her a higher opinion of lions to conclude that it had not done so, because if it did it thought it would

ppeal to the Boers, for they r

"to abandon a comrade in misf

red Portuguee. But I admit he is of yours, Heer Marais, being your sister's

Marais in his meditative manner; "yet I mu

y horse and all the powder, leaving her and the rest of us to starve. Well, you won't

ed Meyer, "I have those children

mphantly, "nobody will go, so let us

that a Christian man should be left to star

ok, "why should I of all people go to look for the H

it is for you to judge, remembering that we must answer for all things at the last day, and not fo

dy to look after Marie?" (Here the Vrouw Prinsloo and the other Boers tittered.) "And why do you not address your r

sloos and Meyer found that

ker with the blood of a fellow creature upon our hands. But if you and these other hard-hearted

ut of it. You will soon get sick of the journey, Hee

e never deigned to argue with Vrouw Prin

ound between the first leaves of our Holy Book. Get up, Klaus, and guide me to your mas

e had stood silent, touched

father should go alone? W

a business there should be two, and some Kaff

uld start at dawn. Accordingly, I rose before the light, and was just finishing my breakfast when Marie appeared at th

e away. "I come to you from my father, who

o go after your cousin alone," I

growing light, that entered through the doorway for it had no window, I perceived

ill, very ill, something that I have eaten perhaps, or a chi

ed, for, to tell the truth, I misdoubted me of this chill, an

agon-maker's vice. Yet I will try, for it is impossible to leave that poor Herna

e of my Kaffirs go

think well of those who sent raw Kaffirs to succour you when they might have come th

at if I were in that cave and Pereira were in this camp, neither

h! I will come, though it be to my death," and, rising from the stool with the most dread

l kill him," exclaimed Marie, who took a

nswered. "And now, as it is time

upon his stool and resuming his blanket, while Marie loo

as on the road in the

way of gratitude. Bah! lad, if I were you I should just camp for a few days in the bush, and then come back and say that I could find nothing of Pereira except the dea

was obliged to leave in charge of my cattle and goods with the other men. Also, I took a pack-ox, an active bea

e Klaus said he had left his master. This cave seemed extremely silent, and, as I hesitated for a moment at its mouth, the thought crossed my mind that if Pereira were still there, he must be dead. Indeed, do what I would to suppress it, with that reflection came a certain feeling of relief and eve

nd of it lay a man. So still did he lie, that now I was almost certain that his troubles were over. I went up to him and touched his face, which was cold and c

I set down to imagination. Still, I returned, though I did not much like the job, knelt down by the figure, and waited with my hand over its heart. For five minutes or more I s

ow skin stretched over it, and covered with filth and clotted blood from some hurt. I had brandy with me, of which I poured a little down his throat, whe

ipped through my fingers, for at this business Klaus and the Kaffirs were no good at all. But I pulled him round, and on the third morning he came to his senses. For a l

oy who beat me at the goose shooting, and made me quarrel with Oom [uncle] Retief, the j

ackanapes, Allan Quatermain by name, who beat you at shooting. But if you take my ad

ed it?"

did; I have been nursi

certainly I would not have saved yours," and he la

ground, and whenever they stumbled or shook him he cursed at them. So much did he curse, indeed, that at length one of the Zulus, a man with a rough temper, said that if it were not for the Inkoos, meaning myself, he would put his assegai through him, and let the

ons, with her hands set upon her broad hips and her feet apart. Her attitude was so defiant, and had about it such an air of premeditation, that I cannot

e better men walk. Well, now, I want a chat with you. How came it that

elp for you," he

Heer Allan Quatermain for saving your life, for I am sure he has done so? You have got no goods left, although you wer

bout my wanting no paym

d help it! You are a traitor also. You brought us to this cursed country, where you said your relatives would give us wealth and land, and then, after famine and fever attacked us, you rode away, and left us to die to save your own dirty skin. And now you come back here fo

Pereira in a ceaseless stream of language, until at length he thru

this spectacle of the advance of Pereira seated on the pack-ox, a steed that is becoming to few riders, with the furious and portly Vrouw Prinsloo striding a

ou common Boers, who are not fit to mix with a ma

rally seemed to curl with wrath. "When we were hungry you did not wish it, for you slunk away and left us, taking all the powder. But now that we are full again, thanks

soon as I am strong enough I will leave you in charge of your English captain

d old Boer, who stood by puffing at his pipe. "Get

e came from I do not know, but I think he must have been keeping in the ba

y nephew, who has returned from the gate of death, when yo

be warmer if he had left this stinkcat behind him. Allemachte! Henri Marais, why do you make so much of this Portuguese fellow? Has he bewitched you? Or is it because he is your sist

ot hold of the tail-end of some long-buried truth, I do not know. Of course, however, the latter explanation is possible. Many men have done th

ly that Heaven would come even with them. He said there was a plot against him and his nephew, and that I was at the bottom of it, I who had made his daughter fond of my ugly little face. So furious were his words, whereof there were many

over the tail of the pack-ox, Pereira followed him. So the Vrouw Prinsloo and I were left al

on the mule's back, and didn't I make him squeal and kick, although on most da

h you would leave Mynheer Marais's sore places alone, seei

em. My poor boy, I think you will have a bad time of it between the stinkcat and the mule, although you have done so much for both of them. Well, there i

e, staring at the ground. T

"you didn't take the advice I gave you, namely, to look for Pereira and not to

erself to look at things in strange lights. Like many other women, she judged of moral codes by the impulses of her hea

a little change, so I will come, too, and marry you there; for I have got a pray

y the Vrouw Prinsloo in the vast and untrodden veld

people if there is no one else there; indee

ouw. "But you see, Tante, I solemnly promised her father that I would not marry

a honest men? Why do you not cut your stick the same length as theirs, Allan Quatermain? I tell you that yo

, nothing had gone wrong. When at length he had ended his long story, I ate some food which Marie sent over for me ready cooked, for I was too tired to join any of the Boers that night. Just as I had finished my meal a

father seems very much upset, almost mad, indeed. If the Vrouw Prinslo

is Pereir

he same, Allan, he wanted to kiss me. So I told him at once how matters

e say to th

father answered: 'Yes, that is the best bargain I could make with

happened t

nd saved you. Afterwards he saved me also. Uncle, in all this I see God's hand; had it not been for this Allan none of us would be alive. Yes, God used him that we might be kept alive. Well, he has promised that he wi

hen you heard all t

hose words I entered and said: 'My father and Cousin Hernan, ple

hat?' asked

that I shall marry yo

Marie, who kn

would not marry you, either then or twenty years hence. I am glad tha

ather; 'why do you not give up the business?

enough, the pricks give way,' said Herna

x years, nor six thousand years, are long enough to make me marry any man exc

ot marry me. Only then I promise that you shall n

, leaving him and my father together. And now, All

ing, including the Vr

that the Vrouw Prinsloo was not also right in her own fashion. I am afraid of my cousin Herna