Marie: An Episode in the Life of the Late Allan Quatermain

he tuition of the learned but prejudiced Monsieur Leblanc. Indeed, there is "none to tell, sir." When Monsieur Leblanc was sober, he was

er intoxicated he might be, he always managed to conceal from the Heer Marais. I may add that a certain childish code of honour prevented us from betraying his views on this and sundry other matter

with the love that some children have for each other, and afterwards, as we became adult, with that wider love by which it is at once transcended and made complete. Strange would it have been if this were not so, seeing that we spent nearly half of every week practically alone together, and that, fr

other, whose only child she was, and whom she loved with all her strong and passionate heart, died after a lingering illness, leaving her in charge of her father and

re her dear younger brother. Nobody, not even her father or mine, or Monsieur Leblanc, took the slightest notice of this queer relationship, or seeme

ose complications arose, and under pressure of great physica

omerset, so that we inhabitants of Cradock, on the whole, suffered little. Therefore, with the natural optimism and carelessness of danger of dwellers in wild p

mine in these hills, and was anxious that no one should share his secret. Therefore, on Sundays, when there were no lessons, and the Heer Marais was in the habit of celebrating family prayers, which Leblanc disliked, it was customary for him to ride to these hills and there collect geological specimens and locate

r to seek it, he presently crossed this ridge and met the horse, apparently being led away by two of the Red Kaffirs, who, as was usual, were armed with assegais. As a matter of fact these men had found the beast, and, knowing well to who

At him Leblanc fired also, wounding him slightly in the thigh, but no more, so that he escaped to tell the tale of what he and every other native for miles round considered a wanton and premeditated murder. The deed done, the fiery old Frenchman mounted his nag and rod

ad ridden off to a farm thirty miles or more away to pay its owner for some cattle which he had recently bought, leaving his home a

was awakened by someone tapping at the glass of my window. Slipping from the bed, I felt for my pistol, as it was quite dark, crept to the windo

by her side under a tree on the veld when, about two hours ago, a woman whom I know came up to my camp fire and woke me. I asked her what she was doing at that hour of the night, and she answered that she had come to tell me something. She said that some young men of the tribe of the chief Quab

" I ejacul

from Maraisfontein-I think it was the Vulture" (the natives gave this name to Leblanc on accoun

u say the attack was to be-at dawn?" and I glanced at the stars, adding,

think of what the Red Kaffirs will do w

struck the Hottentot's toad-like face

roan horse and get your gun. In two m

shot out into the night

till my father and the Kaffirs ran into the

the friendly Kaffirs and ride like hell for Maraisfontein. Don't talk to me, father; don't talk! Go and do what I tell you.

, a famous beast that for two years I had saved all my money to buy. Someone strapped on the saddle-bags while I tested the girths; someone else appeared with the stout roan stallion that I knew woul

her. "If you would see me again send them swif

n miles to do and five-and-th

, "till the beasts get their wind, an

cket herself. Happily she and her companion, the stallion-a most enduring horse, though not so very swift-had stood idle for the last thirty hours

ace to hers. We reached its crest, and before us lay the great level pl

shaking loose the reins

my ears, and behind her strained the good roan horse with

the strength of the beasts and how long it would last them. Half an hour

that it seemed to me as though I only

skeleton of some dead beast that I knew. Once I dashed into a herd of trekking game so suddenly, that a springbok, unable to stop itself, leapt right over me. Once the mare put her foot in an

ast gallop as she faced the gentle rise that led to the brow. And now, behind me, once more I heard the sound of the hoofs of the roan. The tirel

grey with light. Oh! could we get there before the dawn? Could we ge

thing, though until I was through it, I did not know that it was a line of men, f

t it, a fresh horror filled my heart; perhaps their m

she was to stop, poor thing-for it occurred to me that if I rode to the front I should very probably be assegaied and of no further use. I tried the door, which was made of stout stinkwood planks. By design, or accident, it had been left unbol

standing there, and I ran for the back entrance of the house, bidding Hans rouse the natives, who slept in the outbuildings, and follow with them. If any one o

not open. After a pause that seemed long, a window was thrown wide,

once, Marie. You are in great danger; the

her nightdress, and at l

our clothes while I call Leblanc. No, stay, do you c

rrived, bringing with him eight frightened men, wh

e door and follow me to the 'sitkamm

clad in his shirt and trousers, and was

s it?"

ld prove a target for an assegai or a bullet. Even in those days the Kaffirs had a few firea

earn all this?" ask

e more than half an hour ago,"

hour ago! Peste! it is not possible. You

le the Kaffirs are here, for I rode through them; and if you want to

f my father's; two 'roer

men"-and I pointed to t

and one ba

lugs, not bullets-"and let the rest stand in the passage with thei

d one at either end of the house, to give light and air to the two small bedrooms, which were approached through the larger bedrooms. At the back, fortunate

guns, Marie coming with me to load, which, like all girls in that wild country, she could do well enough. So we arranged ourselves in a rough-a

anger upon us all weighed on his mind. Also there may have been more; some subtle fore-knowledge of the approaching end to a life that, when all allowances were made, could scarcely be called well spent. At any

ht; but as the light grew they became more cheerful. It is a poor Kaffir that does

very trying to the nerves. There I stood at my window with the two guns, one a double-barrel and one a single "roer", or elephant gun, that took a tremendous charge, but both, be it remembered, flint locks; for, although percussion caps had been introduced, we were a

You were safe yonder, and now

answered simply. "What w

is good of you, but you sho

till have though

, Al

han myself. If anything happened t

she replied, staring down at the

t can I mean, except that I love you

face to me to kiss, adding, "There, that's my answer, the first and perhaps the last. Than

e window-place, passing just between our heads. So we

e plaster of the wall behind us showed clearly. Perhaps the Kaffirs had been frightened by the galloping of horses through their line in the dark, not knowing how many

were situated, for while the fog remained they could not see to get the beasts out. These they wished to make sure

ed and fifty of the former and some two thousand of the latter, to say nothing of the horses, for he was a large an

aid Marie. "Oh! my poor father, he

"but there are things th

real. The Kaffirs were marshalling their men for the attack. A minute more and it had begun. On up the slope they came in long, wavering lines, several hundreds of them, whistling and screaming, shaking their spears, their wa

this attack came within thirty yards of the stoep-for now the light, growing swiftly, was strong enough to enable me to distinguish him by his apparel and the rifle which he held-I loosed

, had halted. If they had come on then, while we were loading, doubtless they might have rushed the place; but, being unused to the terrible effects of firearms, they paused, amazed. A number of them, twenty or thirty perhaps, clustered about the bodies of the fallen Kaffirs, and, seizing my se

he cattle kraal, about a hundred and fifty yards away. Marie took advantage of this pause,

n and beast. Whilst we were still eating and fortifying the window-places as best we could, so as to make them difficult to enter, a single Kaffir appeared, waving above his head a stick to which was tied a white ox-tai

d that he, Quabie, would have blood for blood. Still, he did not wish to kill the young white chieftainess (that was Marie) or the others in the house, with whom he had no quarrel. Therefore if we would

offer he went perfectly mad with mingled fear

have brought all this trouble on us. Your chance of life is as goo

e that if we did die, the vengeance taken on him and all his people would be to wipe them out till not one of them was left, and therefore that he would do well not to cause any of our blood to flow. A

one of us be dead before noon if he had his way. Still, he wo

e house, and the man pitched forward to the ground, then rose again and staggere

through the smoke, which

anted to torture me, Leblanc, the friend of the great Napole

ve shot a messenger carrying a flag of truce, and that the Quabies will never forgive. Oh! I te

ch, so that our Kaffirs might understand th

did not an

ittle Englishman, who dare to lecture me,

istol and walke

in command here, either I will blow your brains out, or I will give you to these men," and I pointed to Hans and the Kaffirs, who had gathered round him,

ces of the natives, and saw something in one or other

will obey you," and he went to his station and began to re-load his gun. As he did so a great shout of fury rose from