"3.That before we start you execute a deed agreeing in the event of my death or disablement,to pay my boy Harry,who is studying medicine over there in London at Guy's Hospital,a sum of #200a year for five years,by which time he ought to be able to earn a living for himself.That is all,I think,and I dare say you will say quite enough,too.""No,"answered Sir Henry,"I accept them gladly.I am bent upon this project,and would pay more than that for your help,especially considering the peculiar knowledge you possess.""Very well.And now that I have made my terms I will tell you my reasons for making up my mind to go.First of all,gentlemen,I have been observing you both for the last few days,and if you will not think me impertinent I will say that I like you,and think that we shall come up well to the yoke together.That is something,let me tell you,when one has a long journey like this before one.
"And now as to the journey itself,I tell you flatly,Sir Henry and Captain Good,that I do not think it probable that we can come out of it alive,that is,if we attempt to cross the Suliman Mountains.What was the fate of the old Don da Silvestra three hundred years ago?What was the fate of his descendant twenty years ago?What has been your brother's fate?I tell you frankly,gentlemen,that as their fate was so I believe ours will be."I paused to watch the effect of my words.Captain Good looked a little uncomfortable;but Sir Henry's face did not change.
"We must take our chance,"he said.
"You may perhaps wonder,"I went on,"why,if I think this,I,who am,as I told you,a timid man,should undertake such a journey.It is for two reasons.First,I am a fatalist,and believe that my time is appointed to come quite independently of my own movements,and that if I am to go to Suliman Mountains to be killed,I shall go there and shall be killed there.God Almighty,no doubt,knows his mind about me,so I need not trouble on that account.Secondly,I am a poor man.For forty years I have hunted and but I have never made more than a living.Well,gentlemen,I don't know if you are aware that the average life of an elephant-hunter from the time he takes to the trade is from four to five years.So you see I have lived through about seven generations of my class and I should think that my time cannot be far off,any way.Now,if anything were to happen to me in the course of business,by the time my debts were paid there would be nothing left to support my son Harry while he was getting in the way of earning a living,whereas now he would be provided for for five years.There is whole affair in a nutshell.""Mr.Quatermain,"said Sir Henry,who had been giving me the most serious attention,"your motives for undertaking an enterprise which you believe can only end in disaster reflect a great deal of credit on you.
Whether or not you are right,time and the event,of course,alone can show.But whether you are right or wrong,I may as well tell you at once that I am going through with it to the end,sweet or bitter.If we are going to be knocked on the head,all that I have to say is that I hope we shall get a little shooting first -eh,Good?""Yes,yes,"put in the captain."We have all three of us been accustomed to face danger,and hold our lives in our hands in various ways,so it is no good turning back now.""And now I vote we go down to the saloon and take an observation,just for luck,you know."And we did -through the bottom of a tumbler.
Next day we went ashore,and I put Sir Henry and Captain Good up at the little shanty I have on the Berea,and which I call my home.
There are only three rooms and a kitchen in it,and it is built of green brick with a galvanized iron roof,but there is a good garden,with the best loquot-trees in it that I know,and some nice young mangoes;of which I hope great things.The curator of the botanical gardens gave them to me.It is looked after by an old hunter of mine,named Jack,whose thigh was so badly broken by a buffalo cow in Sikukuni's country that he will never hunt again.But he can potter about and garden,being a Griqua by birth.You can never get your Zulu to take much interest in gardening.
It is a peaceful art,and peaceful arts are not in his line.
Sir Henry and Good slept in a tent pitched in my little grove of orange trees at the end of the garden (for there was no room for them in the house),and what with the smell of the bloom and the sight of the green and golden fruit -for in Durban you will see all three on the tree together -I dare say it is a pleasant place enough (for we have few mosquitoes here unless there happens to come an unusually heavy rain).
Well,to get on -for unless I do you will be tired of my story before ever we fetch up at Suliman's Mountains-having once made up my mind to go,I set about making the necessary preparations.First I got the deed from Sir Henry,providing for my boy in case of accidents.There was some little difficulty about getting this legally executed,as Sir Henry was a stranger here,and the property to be charged was over the water;but it was ultimately got over with the help of a lawyer,who charged #20 for the job -a price that I thought outrageous.Then I got my check for #500.
Having paid this tribute to my bump of caution,I bought a wagon and a span of oxen on Sir Henry's behalf,and beauties they were.It was a twenty-two foot wagon with iron axles,very strong,very light,and built throughout of stink-wood.It was not quite a new one,having been to the Diamond Fields and back,but in my opinion it was all the better for that,for one could see that the wood was well-seasoned.If anything is going to give in a wagon,or if there is green wood in it,it will show out on the first trip.
