The Rider Haggard Library

A Tale of Three Lions Chapter 1 - The interest on ten shillings

In which Allan Quatermain recounts his weary toil and eventual fortune upon a gold claim at Pilgrim’s Rest, sharing the bittersweet triumph of discovering a hidden pocket of nuggets amid months of hardship and doubt. The tale unfolds in the tranquil company of his son Harry, whose youthful spirit persuades him to embark on a new buffalo hunting adventure beyond the reach of the goldfields.

A Tale of Three Lions Chapter 3 - Jim-Jim is avenged

In which the sombre consequences of a lioness’s deadly visit compel the narrator and his companions to devise a cunning trap involving a sick ox, leading to a dramatic and fierce confrontation among the great beasts of the veld. The tale concludes with a moment of grim satisfaction in avenging their fallen comrade and reflects upon the dangerous yet beguiling nature of the hunter’s life in the wild.

A Tale of Three Lions Chapter 2 - What was found in the pool

In which the quietude of a moonlit South African camp is shattered by the sinister presence of a prowling lioness, whose hunger brings terror and loss to a small hunting party. The beauty of the surroundings is cruelly contrasted by the grim reality of survival in the wild, as the men confront the savage mercy of nature by a crystal-clear pool.

Kidnapped Chapter 23 - Cluny’s Cage

In which our travellers reach the curious refuge known as Cluny’s Cage, a quaint yet contrived sanctuary high on the hillside where the fugitive chief Cluny Macpherson presides with a mixture of kingly air and anxious habit, amidst tales of princes and the struggles of exile. Amidst the smoky warmth and the turn of a card game, tensions rise and judgments are weighed, revealing the delicate dance of trust, honour, and weariness that accompanies life in hiding.

Kidnapped Chapter 22 - The Moor

In which two weary travellers make a desperate journey eastward across a vast and inhospitable moorland, skulking beneath heather and evading the searching dragoons with scarce a drop of water left to refresh their parched limbs. At length, found by rough but loyal countrymen beneath the shadow of the mountain Ben Alder, they are carried through a wild and tangled landscape, hope mingling with exhaustion in the chill of the gathering night.