King Solomon's Mines
H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925)
Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good hire the elephant hunter Allan Quatermain and set off across the desert and over the mountains of Kukuanaland to find Sir Henry's brother and the lost diamond mines of Solomon. Haggard's first bestseller, written on a bet in a few months, invented the modern 'lost world' adventure: the witch Gagool, the three thousand-year-old ascendancy of the white kings, the battle of the Kukuana regiments, and charted wonders from Solomon's Great Road to the cave of the dead kings. Quatermain, the reluctant, chronically sick, quietly brave narrator, became the template for a century of imperial adventure heroes.
Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.
Table of Contents
- 001 [Illustration] King Solomon’s Mines by H. 2603 words
- 002 The officer’s name I found out—by referring to the passengers’… 2559 words
- 003 [3] Suliman is the Arabic form of Solomon.—_Editor_. 2536 words
- 004 I am, as I think I have said, a cautious man, indeed a timid one, and… 2666 words
- 005 Then I bought a beautiful team of twenty Zulu oxen, which I had kept… 2514 words
- 006 About a fortnight’s march from Inyati we came across a peculiarly… 2587 words
- 007 The sun was just going down in its reddest glory, and Sir Henry and I… 2515 words
- 008 The three express rifles and two hundred rounds of ammunition. 2529 words
- 009 Through the afternoon we crept slowly and painfully along, scarcely… 2536 words
- 010 “What is it, Umbopa, son of a fool?” I shouted in Zulu. 2575 words
- 011 Then leaving these two, the proud white man of a past age, and the… 2517 words
- 012 “Surely,” thought I, “he is not going to try to shave.” But so it was. 2503 words
- 013 Good sighed, and said no more, but it took him a fortnight to become… 2506 words
- 014 Presently we heard a shouting outside, and stepping to the door, saw… 2614 words
- 015 Still there was silence. Then the gigantic figure slipped off the… 2500 words
- 016 “It is well, O king,” I answered unconcernedly, and then, accompanied… 2501 words
- 017 “Greeting, white lords,” Twala cried, as we came up; “be seated… 2633 words
- 018 “Ye have the sign of the snake,” I answered. 2542 words
- 019 “See,” cried Scragga in high glee, “she shrinks from the sight of my… 2686 words
- 020 He finished his discourse amidst a murmur of approbation. 2540 words
- 021 As for Good and myself, the armour did not suit us nearly so well. 2576 words
- 022 “I hear thee,” I said. “So, Macumazahn, thou seest we have no water… 2597 words
- 023 Closing up shoulder to shoulder, once more they halted in silence and… 2594 words
- 024 It was a melancholy sight to see him seated, his battle-axe and… 2640 words
- 025 Meanwhile Foulata had prepared us some strong broth, for we were too weary to eat. 2502 words
- 026 “And if she will not?” “Then she must die,” said Ignosi sternly. 2577 words
- 027 “Art thou coming, Foulata?” asked Good in his villainous Kitchen… 2554 words
- 028 “Do not jest with us,” I said sternly. 2519 words
- 029 “Ah! Bougwan, I die!” gasped the beautiful creature. “She crept… 2547 words
- 030 “Let me try,” I said impatiently, for the situation of the stone… 2625 words
- 031 I need hardly state that we never again penetrated into Solomon’s treasure chamber. 2585 words
- 032 [13] It often puzzled all of us to understand how it was possible… 2735 words