登陆注册
16243400000004

第4章 THE LEGEND OF SOLOMON'S MINES(1)

"WHAT was it that you heard about my brother's journey at Bamangwato?"said Sir Henry,as I paused to fill my pipe before answering 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.I once saw the peaks of the mountains that border them,but there was 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 it."Sir Henry nodded,and Captain Good replied,"Certainly,certainly.""Well,"I began,"as you may guess,in a general way elephant-hunters are a rough set of men,and don't trouble themselves with much beyond the facts of life and the ways of Kaffirs.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.It was when I was on my first elephant hunt in the Matabele country.His name was Evans,and he was killed next 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 Ihad found while hunting koodoo and eland in what is now the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal.I see they have come across these workings again lately in prospecting for gold,but I knew of them years ago.There is a great wide wagon-road cut out of the solid rock,and leading to the mouth of the working or gallery.Inside the mouth of this gallery are stacks of gold quartz piled up ready for crushing,which shows that the workers,whoever they were,must have left in a hurry,and about twenty paces in the gallery is built across,and a beautiful bit of masonry it is.

"'Ay,'said Evans,`but I will tell you a queerer thing than that;'

and he went on to tell me how he had found in the far interior a ruined city,which he believed to be the Ophir of the Bible -and,by the way,other more learned men have said the same long since poor Evans's time.

I was,I remember,listening open-eared to all these wonders,for I was young at the time,and this story of an ancient civilization,and of the treasure which those old Jewish or Phoenician adventurers used to extract from a country long since lapsed into the darkest barbarism,took a great hold upon my imagination,when suddenly he said to me,`Lad,did you ever hear of the Suliman Mountains up to the northwest of the Mashukulumbwe country?'I told him I never had.`Ah,well,'he said,`that was where Solomon really had his mines -his diamond mines,I mean.'

"'How do you know that?'I asked.

"'Know it?why,what is "Suliman"but a corruption of Solomon?

and,besides,an old Isanusi (witch doctor)up in the Manica country told me all about it.She said that the people who lived across those mountains were a branch of the Zulus,speaking a dialect of Zulu,but finer and bigger men even;that there lived among them great wizards,who had learned their art from white men when "all the world was dark,"and who had the secret of a wonderful mine of "bright stones."'

"Well,I laughed at this story at the time,though it interested me,for the diamond fields were not discovered then,and poor Evans went off and got killed,and for twenty years I never thought any more of the matter.But just twenty years afterwards -and that is a long time,gentlemen;an elephant-hunter does not often live for twenty years at his business -I heard something more definite about Suliman's Mountains and the country which lies beyond them.I was up beyond the Manica country at a place called Sitanda's Kraal,and a miserable place it was,for one could get nothing to eat there,and there was but little game about.I had an attack of fever,and was in a bad way generally,when one day a Portugee arrived with a single companion -a half-breed.Now I know your Delagoa Portugee well.

There is no greater devil unhung,in a general way,battening as he does upon human agony and flesh in the shape of slaves.But this was quite a different type of man to the low fellows I had been accustomed to meet;he reminded me more of the polite dons I have read about.He was tall and thin,with large dark eyes and curling gray mustache.We talked together a little,for he could speak broken English,and I understood a little Portugee,and he told me that his name was JoséSilvestre,and that he had a place near Delagoa Bay;and when he went on next day,with his half-breed companion,he said,`Good-bye,'taking off his hat quite in the old style.`Good-bye,senor,'he said;`if ever we meet again I shall be the richest man in the world,and I will remember you.'I laughed a little -I was too weak to laugh much -and watched him strike out for the great desert to the west,wondering if he was mad,or what he thought he was going to find there.

"A week passed,and I got the better of my fever.One evening I was sitting on the ground in front of the little tent I had with me,chewing the last leg of a miserable fowl I had bought from a native for a bit of cloth worth twenty fowls,and staring at the hot,red sun sinking down into the desert,when suddenly I saw a figure,apparently that of a European,for it wore a coat,on the slope of the rising ground opposite to me,about three hundred yards away.The figure crept along on its hands and knees,then it got up and staggered along a few yards on its legs,only to fall and crawl along again.Seeing that it must be somebody in distress,I sent one of my hunters to help him,and presently he arrived,and who do you suppose it turned out to be?""JoséSilvestre,of course,"said Captain Good.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 坏老公

    坏老公

    开玩笑的吧?这种笑死人的事情居然就真的给她发生了?而且还是在她自己的身上?!拜托要真是条件好到让人哈的地步,何必花钱钱来找老婆嘛,可是呢该死的他还真的给她乱帅一把的,嗯,她就勉为其难的将就一下吧!喝!果然露出了狐狸尾巴!呜呜原来他好坏的说,骗人家!哼!既然你不仁,就不要怪偶不义了咩!她就给他来个带球跑的呢,嘿嘿!比狠?谁怕谁!
  • 花样美男们的追爱之旅

    花样美男们的追爱之旅

    收养自己的人竟然是同自己差不多大的小孩,而且还是男生!!!
  • 恶魔校草的异香公主

    恶魔校草的异香公主

    这是一个隐身在贵族小姐,而且身怀异香,在一个贵族学校,和一个头牌校草发生了浪漫故事,还有很多人呢,想知道详情,就来看看吧!
  • EXO之左耳近心

    EXO之左耳近心

    我们中间隔了一堵墙,它叫信任。你们爱不爱,我无所谓了,我累了,我不想爱了。
  • TFboys之不轻易说我爱你

    TFboys之不轻易说我爱你

    每一次的相遇,都是缘分。我等着,能有一天,与你并肩而行。by小瞳你的每一次回眸,每一次微笑,都记在心中。不是我爱你,只是那三个字,我不能说出口。by小凯是你,告诉我坚持。是你,给我温暖。我只爱你,心永不变。by源源你的光芒是那样耀眼,你的爱我不敢接纳。by诗琦我想用我的笑容照亮你,我想用我的爱融化你这座冰山。by诗晴你就像海底的珍珠,是人鱼落下的泪珠,你的凄美,你的温柔,我被你而吸引。by千玺四叶草们快来,写的不好多多见谅~
  • 冰月神皇

    冰月神皇

    武之一道,在于坚韧,在于求索。胜为王败者寇,笑看世间路,谁主沉浮?我欲乘风归去,又恐琼楼玉宇,高处不胜寒。也不知,是孤独成就了强者,还是强者造就了孤独?
  • 入若耶溪

    入若耶溪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 人气心理学

    人气心理学

    内田雅章所著的《人气心理学(无往不 利的高效能关系术)》以人际关系为主轴,结合社交 礼仪、沟通术等方面的技巧,从个人修养、上下级关 系、商务往来、消费习惯等方面,图文并茂,详细解 析了如何把握机会,引导话题;如何有效地“推销” 自己,建立关系网;如何将人脉变成钱脉,使事业更 上一层楼…… 本书建议阅读人群:大学生、上班族、管理者、 谈判家、咨询师等。
  • 梦里闯三国

    梦里闯三国

    三国洪流,英雄辈出。是怎样的意外,让赵子龙不再愚忠刘备,转而开创自己的天地。收典韦,降徐晃,高览慕名来投,荀攸,郭嘉更是拜服;遇甄姜,逗甄宓,美人扑面强袭。醒掌天下权,醉卧美人膝,更多精彩,尽在梦入三国。然最精彩的却是神秘的遁甲天书,一个梦是真是假,赵云能否突破梦境找到心中的答案,能否乱天成功,是梦碎从此消散,还是与众老婆逍遥快活?
  • 九劫星尊

    九劫星尊

    紫星玄惑历经七劫,荧惑之心碎去万载。看一个身世成谜的少年,如何在众生的压迫下,强势崛起的故事。