{"product_id":"2940012791238","title":"THE IVORY CHILD","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eALLAN GIVES A SHOOTING LESSON\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow I, Allan Quatermain, come to the story of what was, perhaps, one of\u003cbr\u003ethe strangest of all the adventures which have befallen me in the course\u003cbr\u003eof a life that so far can scarcely be called tame or humdrum.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmongst many other things it tells of the war against the Black Kendah\u003cbr\u003epeople and the dead of Jana, their elephant god. Often since then I\u003cbr\u003ehave wondered if this creature was or was not anything more than a mere\u003cbr\u003egigantic beast of the forest. It seems improbable, even impossible, but\u003cbr\u003ethe reader of future days may judge of this matter for himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlso he can form his opinion as to the religion of the White Kendah and\u003cbr\u003etheir pretensions to a certain degree of magical skill. Of this magic\u003cbr\u003eI will make only one remark: If it existed at all, it was by no means\u003cbr\u003einfallible. To take a single instance, Harût and Marût were convinced\u003cbr\u003eby divination that I, and I only, could kill Jana, which was why they\u003cbr\u003einvited me to Kendahland. Yet in the end it was Hans who killed him.\u003cbr\u003eJana nearly killed me!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow to my tale.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn another history, called \"The Holy Flower,\" I have told how I came to\u003cbr\u003eEngland with a young gentleman of the name of Scroope, partly to see him\u003cbr\u003esafely home after a hunting accident, and partly to try to dispose of\u003cbr\u003ea unique orchid for a friend of mine called Brother John by the white\u003cbr\u003epeople, and Dogeetah by the natives, who was popularly supposed to be\u003cbr\u003emad, but, in fact, was very sane indeed. So sane was he that he pursued\u003cbr\u003ewhat seemed to be an absolutely desperate quest for over twenty years,\u003cbr\u003euntil, with some humble assistance on my part, he brought it to a\u003cbr\u003ecuriously successful issue. But all this tale is told in \"The Holy\u003cbr\u003eFlower,\" and I only allude to it here, that is at present, to explain\u003cbr\u003ehow I came to be in England.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile in this country I stayed for a few days with Scroope, or, rather,\u003cbr\u003ewith his fiancée and her people, at a fine house in Essex. (I called it\u003cbr\u003eEssex to avoid the place being identified, but really it was one of the\u003cbr\u003eneighbouring counties.) During my visit I was taken to see a much finer\u003cbr\u003eplace, a splendid old castle with brick gateway towers, that had been\u003cbr\u003ewonderfully well restored and turned into a most luxurious modern\u003cbr\u003edwelling. Let us call it \"Ragnall,\" the seat of a baron of that name.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI had heard a good deal about Lord Ragnall, who, according to all\u003cbr\u003eaccounts, seemed a kind of Admirable Crichton. He was said to be\u003cbr\u003ewonderfully handsome, a great scholar--he had taken a double first at\u003cbr\u003ecollege; a great athlete--he had been captain of the Oxford boat at the\u003cbr\u003eUniversity race; a very promising speaker who had already made his mark\u003cbr\u003ein the House of Lords; a sportsman who had shot tigers and other large\u003cbr\u003egame in India; a poet who had published a successful volume of verse\u003cbr\u003eunder a pseudonym; a good solider until he left the Service; and lastly,\u003cbr\u003ea man of enormous wealth, owning, in addition to his estates, several\u003cbr\u003ecoal mines and an entire town in the north of England.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Dear me!\" I said when the list was finished, \"he seems to have been\u003cbr\u003eborn with a whole case of gold spoons in his mouth. I hope one of them\u003cbr\u003ewill not choke him,\" adding: \"Perhaps he will be unlucky in love.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That's just where he is most lucky of all,\" answered the young lady to\u003cbr\u003ewhom I was talking--it was Scroope's fiancée, Miss Manners--\"for he is\u003cbr\u003eengaged to a lady that, I am told, is the loveliest, sweetest, cleverest\u003cbr\u003egirl in all England, and they absolutely adore each other.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Dear me!\" I repeated. \"I wonder what Fate _has_ got up its sleeve for\u003cbr\u003eLord Ragnall and his perfect lady-love?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was doomed to find out one day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo it came about that when, on the following morning, I was asked if\u003cbr\u003eI would like to see the wonders of Ragnall Castle, I answered \"Yes.\"\u003cbr\u003eReally, however, I wanted to have a look at Lord Ragnall himself, if\u003cbr\u003epossible, for the account of his many perfections had impressed the\u003cbr\u003eimagination of a poor colonist like myself, who had never found an\u003cbr\u003eopportunity of setting his eyes upon a kind of human angel. Human devils\u003cbr\u003eI had met in plenty, but never a single angel--at least, of the male\u003cbr\u003esex. Also there was always the possibility that I might get a glimpse\u003cbr\u003eof the still more angelic lady to whom he was engaged, whose name,\u003cbr\u003eI understood, was the Hon. Miss Holmes. So I said that nothing would\u003cbr\u003eplease me more than to see this castle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThither we drove accordingly through the fine, frosty air, for the month\u003cbr\u003ewas December. On reaching the castle, Mr. Scroope was told that Lord\u003cbr\u003eRagnall, whom he knew well, was out shooting somewhere in the park, but\u003cbr\u003ethat, of course, he could show his friend over the place.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152555589872,"sku":"2940012791238","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012791238_p0.jpg?v=1763572791","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012791238","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}