{"product_id":"2940012790941","title":"HUNTER QUATERMAIN'S STORY","description":"Sir Henry Curtis, as everybody acquainted with him knows, is one of the\u003cbr\u003emost hospitable men on earth. It was in the course of the enjoyment of\u003cbr\u003ehis hospitality at his place in Yorkshire the other day that I heard the\u003cbr\u003ehunting story which I am now about to transcribe. Many of those who read\u003cbr\u003eit will no doubt have heard some of the strange rumours that are flying\u003cbr\u003eabout to the effect that Sir Henry Curtis and his friend Captain Good,\u003cbr\u003eR.N., recently found a vast treasure of diamonds out in the heart of\u003cbr\u003eAfrica, supposed to have been hidden by the Egyptians, or King Solomon,\u003cbr\u003eor some other antique people. I first saw the matter alluded to in a\u003cbr\u003eparagraph in one of the society papers the day before I started for\u003cbr\u003eYorkshire to pay my visit to Curtis, and arrived, needless to say,\u003cbr\u003eburning with curiosity; for there is something very fascinating to the\u003cbr\u003emind in the idea of hidden treasure. When I reached the Hall, I at once\u003cbr\u003easked Curtis about it, and he did not deny the truth of the story; but\u003cbr\u003eon my pressing him to tell it he would not, nor would Captain Good, who\u003cbr\u003ewas also staying in the house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You would not believe me if I did,\" Sir Henry said, with one of the\u003cbr\u003ehearty laughs which seem to come right out of his great lungs. \"You\u003cbr\u003emust wait till Hunter Quatermain comes; he will arrive here from Africa\u003cbr\u003eto-night, and I am not going to say a word about the matter, or Good\u003cbr\u003eeither, until he turns up. Quatermain was with us all through; he has\u003cbr\u003eknown about the business for years and years, and if it had not been\u003cbr\u003efor him we should not have been here to-day. I am going to meet him\u003cbr\u003epresently.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI could not get a word more out of him, nor could anybody else, though\u003cbr\u003ewe were all dying of curiosity, especially some of the ladies. I shall\u003cbr\u003enever forget how they looked in the drawing-room before dinner when\u003cbr\u003eCaptain Good produced a great rough diamond, weighing fifty carats or\u003cbr\u003emore, and told them that he had many larger than that. If ever I saw\u003cbr\u003ecuriosity and envy printed on fair faces, I saw them then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was just at this moment that the door was opened, and Mr. Allan\u003cbr\u003eQuatermain announced, whereupon Good put the diamond into his pocket,\u003cbr\u003eand sprang at a little man who limped shyly into the room, convoyed by\u003cbr\u003eSir Henry Curtis himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Here he is, Good, safe and sound,\" said Sir Henry, gleefully. \"Ladies\u003cbr\u003eand gentlemen, let me introduce you to one of the oldest hunters and the\u003cbr\u003every best shot in Africa, who has killed more elephants and lions than\u003cbr\u003eany other man alive.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEverybody turned and stared politely at the curious-looking little lame\u003cbr\u003eman, and though his size was insignificant, he was quite worth staring\u003cbr\u003eat. He had short grizzled hair, which stood about an inch above his head\u003cbr\u003elike the bristles of a brush, gentle brown eyes, that seemed to notice\u003cbr\u003eeverything, and a withered face, tanned to the colour of mahogany\u003cbr\u003efrom exposure to the weather. He spoke, too, when he returned Good's\u003cbr\u003eenthusiastic greeting, with a curious little accent, which made his\u003cbr\u003espeech noticeable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt so happened that I sat next to Mr. Allan Quatermain at dinner, and,\u003cbr\u003eof course, did my best to draw him; but he was not to be drawn. He\u003cbr\u003eadmitted that he had recently been a long journey into the interior of\u003cbr\u003eAfrica with Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and that they had found\u003cbr\u003etreasure, and then politely turned the subject and began to ask me\u003cbr\u003equestions about England, where he had never been before--that is, since\u003cbr\u003ehe came to years of discretion. Of course, I did not find this very\u003cbr\u003einteresting, and so cast about for some means to bring the conversation\u003cbr\u003eround again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, we were dining in an oak-panelled vestibule, and on the wall\u003cbr\u003eopposite to me were fixed two gigantic elephant tusks, and under them\u003cbr\u003ea pair of buffalo horns, very rough and knotted, showing that they came\u003cbr\u003eoff an old bull, and having the tip of one horn split and chipped. I\u003cbr\u003enoticed that Hunter Quatermain's eyes kept glancing at these trophies,\u003cbr\u003eand took an occasion to ask him if he knew anything about them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I ought to,\" he answered, with a little laugh; \"the elephant to which\u003cbr\u003ethose tusks belonged tore one of our party right in two about eighteen\u003cbr\u003emonths ago, and as for the buffalo horns, they were nearly my death, and\u003cbr\u003ewere the end of a servant of mine to whom I was much attached. I\u003cbr\u003egave them to Sir Henry when he left Natal some months ago;\" and Mr.\u003cbr\u003eQuatermain sighed and turned to answer a question from the lady whom he\u003cbr\u003ehad taken down to dinner, and who, needless to say, was also employed in\u003cbr\u003etrying to pump him about the diamonds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndeed, all round the table there was a simmer of scarcely suppressed\u003cbr\u003eexcitement, which, when the servants had left the room, could no longer\u003cbr\u003ebe restrained.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145465118960,"sku":"2940012790941","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012790941_p0.jpg?v=1763572486","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012790941","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}