Long Odds

Rider Haggard H.

Description

The subjects and historical periods that British action-adventure writer H. Rider Haggard tackled in his vast body of work ranged considerably, but one element remains a constant thread that unites his entire oeuvre: heart-racing adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you're looking for an engaging and entertaining read, try Haggard's Long Odds.

Sujets

• Short story

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781775459484
• Langue: English

Extrait

LONG ODDS
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H. RIDER HAGGARD
 
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Long Odds First published in 1886 ISBN 978-1-77545-948-4 © 2012 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
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The story which is narrated in the following pages came to me from thelips of my old friend Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain, as we usedto call him in South Africa. He told it to me one evening when I wasstopping with him at the place he bought in Yorkshire. Shortly afterthat, the death of his only son so unsettled him that he immediatelyleft England, accompanied by two companions, his old fellow-voyagers,Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and has now utterly vanished into thedark heart of Africa. He is persuaded that a white people, of which hehas heard rumours all his life, exists somewhere on the highlands in thevast, still unexplored interior, and his great ambition is to find thembefore he dies. This is the wild quest upon which he and his companionshave departed, and from which I shrewdly suspect they never will return.One letter only have I received from the old gentleman, dated from amission station high up the Tana, a river on the east coast, about threehundred miles north of Zanzibar. In it he says they have gone throughmany hardships and adventures, but are alive and well, and have foundtraces which go far towards making him hope that the results of theirwild quest may be a "magnificent and unexampled discovery." I greatlyfear, however, that all he has discovered is death; for this letter camea long while ago, and nobody has heard a single word of the party since.They have totally vanished.
It was on the last evening of my stay at his house that he told theensuing story to me and Captain Good, who was dining with him. He hadeaten his dinner and drunk two or three glasses of old port, just tohelp Good and myself to the end of the second bottle. It was an unusualthing for him to do, for he was a most abstemious man, having conceived,as he used to say, a great horror of drink from observing its effectsupon the class of men—hunters, transport riders, and others—amongstwhom he had passed so many years of his life. Consequently the good winetook more effect on him that it would have done on most men, sending alittle flush into his wrinkled cheeks, and making him talk more freelythan usual.