“That’s true,” said I, thinking of my boy Harry.

“I found out, Mr. Quatermain, that I would have given half my fortune to know that my brother George, the only relation I possess, was safe and well, and that I should see him again.”

“But you never did, Curtis,” jerked out Captain Good, glancing at the big man’s face.

“Well, Mr. Quatermain, as time went on I became more and more anxious to find out if my brother was alive or dead, and if alive to get him home again.  I set enquiries on foot, and your letter was one of the results.  So far as it went it was satisfactory, for it showed that till lately George was alive, but it did not go far enough.  So, to cut a long story short, I made up my mind to come out and look for him myself, and Captain Good was so kind as to come with me.”

“Yes,” said the captain; “nothing else to do, you see.  Turned out by my Lords of the Admiralty to starve on half pay.  And now perhaps, sir, you will tell us what you know or have heard of the gentleman called Neville.”

CHAPTER II

THE LEGEND OF SOLOMON’S MINES

“What was it that you heard about my brother’s journey at Bamangwato?” asked Sir Henry, as I paused to fill my pipe before replying to Captain Good.

“I heard this,” I answered, “and I have never mentioned it to a soul till to-day.  I heard that he was starting for Solomon’s Mines.”

“Solomon’s Mines?” ejaculated both my hearers at once.  “Where are they?”

“I don’t know,” I said; “I know where they are said to be.  Once I saw the peaks of the mountains that border them, but there were a hundred and thirty miles of desert between me and them, and I am not aware that any white man ever got across it save one.  But perhaps the best thing I can do is to tell you the legend of Solomon’s Mines as I know it, you passing your word not to reveal anything I tell you without my permission.  Do you agree to that?  I have my reasons for asking.”

Sir Henry nodded, and Captain Good replied, “Certainly, certainly.”

“Well,” I began, “as you may guess, generally speaking, elephant hunters are a rough set of men, who do not trouble themselves with much beyond the facts of life and the ways of Kafirs.  But here and there you meet a man who takes the trouble to collect traditions from the natives, and tries to make out a little piece of the history of this dark land.  It was such a man as this who first told me the legend of Solomon’s Mines, now a matter of nearly thirty years ago.  That was when I was on my first elephant hunt in the Matalebe country.  His name was Evans, and he was killed the following year, poor fellow, by a wounded buffalo, and lies buried near the Zambesi Falls.  I was telling Evans one night, I remember, of some wonderful workings I had found whilst hunting koodoo and eland in what is now the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal.