{"product_id":"2940012790910","title":"ALLAN AND THE HOLY FLOWER","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                             BROTHER JOHN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI do not suppose that anyone who knows the name of Allan Quatermain\u003cbr\u003ewould be likely to associate it with flowers, and especially with\u003cbr\u003eorchids. Yet as it happens it was once my lot to take part in an orchid\u003cbr\u003ehunt of so remarkable a character that I think its details should not\u003cbr\u003ebe lost. At least I will set them down, and if in the after days anyone\u003cbr\u003ecares to publish them, well--he is at liberty to do so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was in the year--oh! never mind the year, it was a long while ago\u003cbr\u003ewhen I was much younger, that I went on a hunting expedition to the\u003cbr\u003enorth of the Limpopo River which borders the Transvaal. My companion was\u003cbr\u003ea gentleman of the name of Scroope, Charles Scroope. He had come out to\u003cbr\u003eDurban from England in search of sport. At least, that was one of his\u003cbr\u003ereasons. The other was a lady whom I will call Miss Margaret Manners,\u003cbr\u003ethough that was not her name.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt seems that these two were engaged to be married, and really attached\u003cbr\u003eto each other. Unfortunately, however, they quarrelled violently about\u003cbr\u003eanother gentlemen with whom Miss Manners danced four consecutive dances,\u003cbr\u003eincluding two that were promised to her fiancé at a Hunt ball in Essex,\u003cbr\u003ewhere they all lived. Explanations, or rather argument, followed. Mr.\u003cbr\u003eScroope said that he would not tolerate such conduct. Miss Manners\u003cbr\u003ereplied that she would not be dictated to; she was her own mistress and\u003cbr\u003emeant to remain so. Mr. Scroope exclaimed that she might so far as he\u003cbr\u003ewas concerned. She answered that she never wished to see his face again.\u003cbr\u003eHe declared with emphasis that she never should and that he was going to\u003cbr\u003eAfrica to shoot elephants.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat is more, he went, starting from his Essex home the next day without\u003cbr\u003eleaving any address. As it transpired afterwards, long afterwards, had\u003cbr\u003ehe waited till the post came in he would have received a letter that\u003cbr\u003emight have changed his plans. But they were high-spirited young people,\u003cbr\u003eboth of them, and played the fool after the fashion of those in love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell, Charles Scroope turned up in Durban, which was but a poor place\u003cbr\u003ethen, and there we met in the bar of the Royal Hotel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If you want to kill big game,\" I heard some one say, who it was\u003cbr\u003eI really forget, \"there's the man to show you how to do it--Hunter\u003cbr\u003eQuatermain; the best shot in Africa and one of the finest fellows, too.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI sat still, smoking my pipe and pretending to hear nothing. It is\u003cbr\u003eawkward to listen to oneself being praised, and I was always a shy man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen after a whispered colloquy Mr. Scroope was brought forward and\u003cbr\u003eintroduced to me. I bowed as nicely as I could and ran my eye over him.\u003cbr\u003eHe was a tall young man with dark eyes and a rather romantic aspect\u003cbr\u003e(that was due to his love affair), but I came to the conclusion that I\u003cbr\u003eliked the cut of his jib. When he spoke, that conclusion was affirmed. I\u003cbr\u003ealways think there is a great deal in a voice; personally, I judge by it\u003cbr\u003ealmost as much as by the face. This voice was particularly pleasant and\u003cbr\u003esympathetic, though there was nothing very original or striking in the\u003cbr\u003ewords by which it was, so to speak, introduced to me. These were:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"How do you do, sir. Will you have a split?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI answered that I never drank spirits in the daytime, or at least not\u003cbr\u003eoften, but that I should be pleased to take a small bottle of beer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the beer was consumed we walked up together to my little house\u003cbr\u003eon which is now called the Berea, the same in which, amongst others, I\u003cbr\u003ereceived my friends, Curtis and Good, in after days, and there we dined.\u003cbr\u003eIndeed, Charlie Scroope never left that house until we started on our\u003cbr\u003eshooting expedition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow I must cut all this story short, since it is only incidentally that\u003cbr\u003eit has to do with the tale I am going to tell. Mr. Scroope was a rich\u003cbr\u003eman and as he offered to pay all the expenses of the expedition while I\u003cbr\u003ewas to take all the profit in the shape of ivory or anything else that\u003cbr\u003emight accrue, of course I did not decline his proposal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEverything went well with us on that trip until its unfortunate end.\u003cbr\u003eWe only killed two elephants, but of other game we found plenty. It was\u003cbr\u003ewhen we were near Delagoa Bay on our return that the accident happened.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe were out one evening trying to shoot something for our dinner, when\u003cbr\u003ebetween the trees I caught sight of a small buck. It vanished round a\u003cbr\u003elittle promontory of rock which projected from the side of the kloof,\u003cbr\u003ewalking quietly, not running in alarm. We followed after it.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145463480560,"sku":"2940012790910","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012790910_p0.jpg?v=1763572655","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012790910","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}