{"product_id":"2940014487238","title":"Stories by English Authors: Africa","description":"THE MYSTERY OF SASASSA VALLEY, By A. Conan Doyle\u003cbr\u003eDo I know why Tom Donahue is called \"Lucky Tom\"? Yes, I do; and that\u003cbr\u003eis\u003cbr\u003emore than one in ten of those who call him so can say. I have knocked\u003cbr\u003eabout a deal in my time, and seen some strange sights, but none\u003cbr\u003estranger\u003cbr\u003ethan the way in which Tom gained that sobriquet, and his fortune with\u003cbr\u003eit. For I was with him at the time. Tell it? Oh, certainly; but it is\u003cbr\u003ea\u003cbr\u003elongish story and a very strange one; so fill up your glass again, and\u003cbr\u003elight another cigar, while I try to reel it off. Yes, a very strange\u003cbr\u003eone; beats some fairy stories I have heard; but it's true, sir, every\u003cbr\u003eword of it. There are men alive at Cape Colony now who'll remember it\u003cbr\u003eand confirm what I say. Many a time has the tale been told round the\u003cbr\u003efire in Boers' cabins from Orange state to Griqualand; yes, and out in\u003cbr\u003ethe bush and at the diamond-fields too.\u003cbr\u003eI'm roughish now, sir; but I was entered at the Middle Temple once,\u003cbr\u003eand\u003cbr\u003estudied for the bar. Tom--worse luck!--was one of my fellow-students;\u003cbr\u003eand a wildish time we had of it, until at last our finances ran short,\u003cbr\u003eand we were compelled to give up our so-called studies, and look about\u003cbr\u003efor some part of the world where two young fellows with strong arms\u003cbr\u003eand\u003cbr\u003ePage 1\u003cbr\u003eStories by English Authors Africa\u003cbr\u003esound constitutions might make their mark. In those days the tide of\u003cbr\u003eemigration had scarcely begun to set in toward Africa, and so we\u003cbr\u003ethought\u003cbr\u003eour best chance would be down at Cape Colony. Well,--to make a long\u003cbr\u003estory short,--we set sail, and were deposited in Cape Town with less\u003cbr\u003ethan five pounds in our pockets; and there we parted. We each tried\u003cbr\u003eour\u003cbr\u003ehands at many things, and had ups and downs; but when, at the end of\u003cbr\u003ethree years, chance led each of us up-country and we met again, we\u003cbr\u003ewere,\u003cbr\u003eI regret to say, in almost as bad a plight as when we started.\u003cbr\u003eWell, this was not much of a commencement; and very disheartened we\u003cbr\u003ewere, so disheartened that Tom spoke of going back to England and\u003cbr\u003egetting a clerkship. For you see we didn't know that we had played out\u003cbr\u003eall our small cards, and that the trumps were going to turn up. No; we\u003cbr\u003ethought our \"hands\" were bad all through. It was a very lonely part of\u003cbr\u003ethe country that we were in, inhabited by a few scattered farms, whose\u003cbr\u003ehouses were stockaded and fenced in to defend them against the\u003cbr\u003eKaffirs.\u003cbr\u003eTom Donahue and I had a little hut right out in the bush; but we were\u003cbr\u003eknown to possess nothing, and to be handy with our revolvers, so we\u003cbr\u003ehad little to fear. There we waited, doing odd jobs, and hoping that\u003cbr\u003esomething would turn up. Well, after we had been there about a month\u003cbr\u003esomething did turn up upon a certain night, something which was the\u003cbr\u003emaking of both of us; and it's about that night, sir, that I'm going\u003cbr\u003eto\u003cbr\u003etell you. I remember it well. The wind was howling past our cabin, and\u003cbr\u003ethe rain threatened to burst in our rude window. We had a great wood\u003cbr\u003efire crackling and sputtering on the hearth, by which I was sitting\u003cbr\u003emending a whip, while Tom was lying in his bunk groaning\u003cbr\u003edisconsolately\u003cbr\u003eat the chance which had led him to such a place.\u003cbr\u003e\"Cheer up, Tom--cheer up,\" said I. \"No man ever knows what may be\u003cbr\u003eawaiting him.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"Ill luck, ill luck, Jack,\" he answered. \"I always was an unlucky dog.\u003cbr\u003eHere have I been three years in this abominable country; and I see\u003cbr\u003elads\u003cbr\u003efresh from England jingling the money in their pockets, while I am as\u003cbr\u003epoor as when I landed. Ah, Jack, if you want to keep your head above\u003cbr\u003ewater, old friend, you must try your fortune away from me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"Nonsense, Tom; you're down in your luck to-night. But hark! Here's\u003cbr\u003esome\u003cbr\u003eone coming outside. Dick Wharton, by the tread; he'll rouse you, if\u003cbr\u003eany\u003cbr\u003eman can.\"\u003cbr\u003eEven as I spoke the door was flung open, and honest Dick Wharton, with\u003cbr\u003ethe water pouring from him, stepped in, his hearty red face looming\u003cbr\u003ePage 2\u003cbr\u003eStories by English Authors Africa\u003cbr\u003ethrough the haze like a harvest-moon. He shook himself, and after\u003cbr\u003egreeting us sat down by the fire to warm himself.\u003cbr\u003e\"Where away, Dick, on such a night as this?\" said I. \"You'll find the\u003cbr\u003erheumatism a worse foe than the Kaffirs, unless you keep more regular\u003cbr\u003ehours.\"\u003cbr\u003eDick was looking unusually serious, almost frightened, one would say,\u003cbr\u003eif one did not know the man. \"Had to go,\" he replied--\"had to go. One\u003cbr\u003eof Madison's cattle was seen straying down Sasassa Valley, and of\u003cbr\u003ecourse\u003cbr\u003enone of our blacks would go down _that_ valley at night; and if we had\u003cbr\u003ewaited till morning, the brute would have been in Kaffirland.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"Why wouldn't they go down Sasassa Valley at night?\" asked Tom.\u003cbr\u003e\"Kaffirs, I suppose,\" said I.\u003cbr\u003e\"Ghosts,\" said Dick.\u003cbr\u003eWe both laughed.\u003cbr\u003e\"I suppose they didn't give such a matter-of-fact fellow as you a\u003cbr\u003esight of their ...","brand":"All classic book warehouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47156009763056,"sku":"2940014487238","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014487238_p0.jpg?v=1763609806","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014487238","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}