"Haggard, H Rider- Hunter Quatermain's Story" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haggard H. Rider)

HUNTER QUATERMAIN'S STORY

by H. Rider Haggard




Sir Henry Curtis, as everybody acquainted with him knows, is one of
the most hospitable men on earth. It was in the course of the
enjoyment of his hospitality at his place in Yorkshire the other day
that I heard the hunting story which I am now about to transcribe.
Many of those who read it will no doubt have heard some of the strange
rumours that are flying about to the effect that Sir Henry Curtis and
his friend Captain Good, R.N., recently found a vast treasure of
diamonds out in the heart of Africa, supposed to have been hidden by
the Egyptians, or King Solomon, or some other antique people. I first
saw the matter alluded to in a paragraph in one of the society papers
the day before I started for Yorkshire to pay my visit to Curtis, and
arrived, needless to say, burning with curiosity; for there is
something very fascinating to the mind in the idea of hidden treasure.
When I reached the Hall, I at once asked Curtis about it, and he did
not deny the truth of the story; but on my pressing him to tell it he
would not, nor would Captain Good, who was also staying in the house.

"You would not believe me if I did," Sir Henry said, with one of the
hearty laughs which seem to come right out of his great lungs. "You
must wait till Hunter Quatermain comes; he will arrive here from
Africa to-night, and I am not going to say a word about the matter, or
Good either, until he turns up. Quatermain was with us all through; he
has known about the business for years and years, and if it had not
been for him we should not have been here to-day. I am going to meet
him presently."

I could not get a word more out of him, nor could anybody else, though
we were all dying of curiosity, especially some of the ladies. I shall
never forget how they looked in the drawing-room before dinner when
Captain Good produced a great rough diamond, weighing fifty carats or
more, and told them that he had many larger than that. If ever I saw
curiosity and envy printed on fair faces, I saw them then.

It was just at this moment that the door was opened, and Mr. Allan
Quatermain announced, whereupon Good put the diamond into his pocket,
and sprang at a little man who limped shyly into the room, convoyed by
Sir Henry Curtis himself.

"Here he is, Good, safe and sound," said Sir Henry, gleefully. "Ladies
and gentlemen, let me introduce you to one of the oldest hunters and
the very best shot in Africa, who has killed more elephants and lions
than any other man alive."