CHAPTER I THE CONSUL ’S YARN A week had passed since the funeral of my poor boy Harry , and one evening I was in my room walking up and down and thinking , when there was a ring at the outer door .
Going down the steps I opened it myself , and in came my old friends Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good , RN .
They entered the vestibule and sat themselves down before the wide hearth , where , I remember , a particularly good fire of logs was burning .
‘ It is very kind of you to come round , ’ I said by way of making a remark ; ‘ it must have been heavy walking in the snow . ’
They said nothing , but Sir Henry slowly filled his pipe and lit it with a burning ember .
As he leant forward to do so the fire got hold of a gassy bit of pine and flared up brightly , throwing the whole scene into strong relief , and I thought , What a splendid-looking man he is !
Calm , powerful face , clear-cut features , large grey eyes , yellow beard and hair -- altogether a magnificent specimen of the higher type of humanity .
Nor did his form belie his face .
I have never seen wider shoulders or a deeper chest .
Indeed , Sir Henry ’s girth is so great that , though he is six feet two high , he does not strike one as a tall man .
As I looked at him I could not help thinking what a curious contrast my little dried-up self presented to his grand face and form .
Imagine to yourself a small , withered , yellow-faced man of sixty-three , with thin hands , large brown eyes , a head of grizzled hair cut short and standing up like a half-worn scrubbing-brush -- total weight in my clothes , nine stone six -- and you will get a very fair idea of Allan Quatermain , commonly called Hunter Quatermain , or by the natives ‘ Macumazahn ’ -- Anglicè , he who keeps a bright look-out at night , or , in vulgar English , a sharp fellow who is not to be taken in .
Then there was Good , who is not like either of us , being short , dark , stout -- _ very _ stout -- with twinkling black eyes , in one of which an eyeglass is everlastingly fixed .
I say stout , but it is a mild term ; I regret to state that of late years Good has been running to fat in a most disgraceful way .
Sir Henry tells him that it comes from idleness and over-feeding , and Good does not like it at all , though he can not deny it .
We sat for a while , and then I got a match and lit the lamp that stood ready on the table , for the half-light began to grow dreary , as it is apt to do when one has a short week ago buried the hope of one ’s life .
Next , I opened a cupboard in the wainscoting and got a bottle of whisky and some tumblers and water .
I always like to do these things for myself : it is irritating to me to have somebody continually at my elbow , as though I were an eighteen-month-old baby .
All this while Curtis and Good had been silent , feeling , I suppose , that they had nothing to say that could do me any good , and content to give me the comfort of their presence and unspoken sympathy ; for it was only their second visit since the funeral .
And it is , by the way , from the _ presence _ of others that we really derive support in our dark hours of grief , and not from their talk , which often only serves to irritate us .
Before a bad storm the game always herd together , but they cease their calling .
They sat and smoked and drank whisky and water , and I stood by the fire also smoking and looking at them .
At last I spoke .
‘ Old friends , ’ I said , ‘ how long is it since we got back from Kukuanaland ? ’
‘ Three years , ’ said Good .
‘ Why do you ask ? ’
‘ I ask because I think that I have had a long enough spell of civilization .
I am going back to the veldt . ’
Sir Henry laid his head back in his arm-chair and laughed one of his deep laughs .
‘ How very odd , ’ he said , ‘ eh , Good ? ’
Good beamed at me mysteriously through his eyeglass and murmured , ‘ Yes , odd -- very odd . ’
‘ I do n’t quite understand , ’ said I , looking from one to the other , for I dislike mysteries .
‘ Do n’t you , old fellow ? ’
said Sir Henry ; ‘ then I will explain .
As Good and I were walking up here we had a talk . ’
‘ If Good was there you probably did , ’ I put in sarcastically , for Good is a great hand at talking .
‘ And what may it have been about ? ’
‘ What do you think ? ’
asked Sir Henry .
I shook my head .
It was not likely that I should know what Good might be talking about .
He talks about so many things .
‘ Well , it was about a little plan that I have formed -- namely , that if you were willing we should pack up our traps and go off to Africa on another expedition . ’
I fairly jumped at his words .
‘ You do n’t say so ! ’
I said .
‘ Yes I do , though , and so does Good ; do n’t you , Good ? ’
‘ Rather , ’ said that gentleman .
‘ Listen , old fellow , ’ went on Sir Henry , with considerable animation of manner .
‘ I ’m tired of it too , dead-tired of doing nothing more except play the squire in a country that is sick of squires .
For a year or more I have been getting as restless as an old elephant who scents danger .
I am always dreaming of Kukuanaland and Gagool and King Solomon ’s Mines .
I can assure you I have become the victim of an almost unaccountable craving .
I am sick of shooting pheasants and partridges , and want to have a go at some large game again .
There , you know the feeling -- when one has once tasted brandy and water , milk becomes insipid to the palate .
That year we spent together up in Kukuanaland seems to me worth all the other years of my life put together .
I dare say that I am a fool for my pains , but I ca n’t help it ; I long to go , and , what is more , I mean to go . ’
He paused , and then went on again .
‘ And , after all , why should I not go ?
I have no wife or parent , no chick or child to keep me .
If anything happens to me the baronetcy will go to my brother George and his boy , as it would ultimately do in any case .
I am of no importance to any one . ’
‘ Ah ! ’
I said , ‘ I thought you would come to that sooner or later .
And now , Good , what is your reason for wanting to trek ; have you got one ? ’
‘ I have , ’ said Good , solemnly .
‘ I never do anything without a reason ; and it is n’t a lady -- at least , if it is , it ’s several . ’
I looked at him again .
Good is so overpoweringly frivolous .
‘ What is it ? ’
I said .
‘ Well , if you really want to know , though I ’d rather not speak of a delicate and strictly personal matter , I ’ll tell you : I ’m getting too fat . ’
‘ Shut up , Good ! ’
said Sir Henry .
‘ And now , Quatermain , tell us , where do you propose going to ? ’
I lit my pipe , which had gone out , before answering .
‘ Have you people ever heard of Mt Kenia ? ’
I asked .
‘ Do n’t know the place , ’ said Good .
‘ Did you ever hear of the Island of Lamu ? ’
I asked again .
‘ No .
Stop , though -- is n’t it a place about 300 miles north of Zanzibar ? ’
‘ Yes .
Now listen .
What I have to propose is this .
That we go to Lamu and thence make our way about 250 miles inland to Mt Kenia ; from Mt Kenia on inland to Mt Lekakisera , another 200 miles , or thereabouts , beyond which no white man has to the best of my belief ever been ; and then , if we get so far , right on into the unknown interior .
What do you say to that , my hearties ? ’
‘ It ’s a big order , ’ said Sir Henry , reflectively .
‘ You are right , ’ I answered , ‘ it is ; but I take it that we are all three of us in search of a big order .
We want a change of scene , and we are likely to get one -- a thorough change .
All my life I have longed to visit those parts , and I mean to do it before I die .
My poor boy ’s death has broken the last link between me and civilization , and I ’m off to my native wilds .
And now I ’ll tell you another thing , and that is , that for years and years I have heard rumours of a great white race which is supposed to have its home somewhere up in this direction , and I have a mind to see if there is any truth in them .
If you fellows like to come , well and good ; if not , I ’ll go alone . ’
‘ I ’m your man , though I do n’t believe in your white race , ’ said Sir Henry Curtis , rising and placing his arm upon my shoulder .
‘ Ditto , ’ remarked Good .
‘ I ’ll go into training at once .
By all means let ’s go to Mt Kenia and the other place with an unpronounceable name , and look for a white race that does not exist .
It ’s all one to me . ’
‘ When do you propose to start ? ’
asked Sir Henry .
‘ This day month , ’ I answered , ‘ by the British India steamboat ; and do n’t you be so certain that things have no existence because you do not happen to have heard of them .
Remember King Solomon ’s mines ! ’
Some fourteen weeks or so had passed since the date of this conversation , and this history goes on its way in very different surroundings .