DEDICATION

     My Dear Macumazahn,

     It was your native name which I borrowed at the christening
     of that Allen who has become as well known to me as any
     other friend I have. It is therefore fitting that I should
     dedicate to you this, his last tale—the story of his wife,
     and the history of some further adventures which befell him.
     They will remind you of many an African yarn—that with the
     baboons may recall an experience of your own which I did not
     share. And perhaps they will do more than this. Perhaps they
     will bring back to you some of the long past romance of days
     that are lost to us. The country of which Allan Quatermain
     tells his tale is now, for the most part, as well known and
     explored as are the fields of Norfolk. Where we shot and
     trekked and galloped, scarcely seeing the face of civilized
     man, there the gold-seeker builds his cities. The shadow of
     the flag of Britain has, for a while, ceased to fall on the
     Transvaal plains; the game has gone; the misty charm of the
     morning has become the glare of day. All is changed. The
     blue gums that we planted in the garden of the "Palatial"
     must be large trees by now, and the "Palatial" itself has
     passed from us. Jess sat in it waiting for her love after we
     were gone. There she nursed him back to life. But Jess is
     dead, and strangers own it, or perhaps it is a ruin.

     For us too, Macumazahn, as for the land we loved, the
     mystery and promise of the morning are outworn; the mid-day
     sun burns overhead, and at times the way is weary. Few of
     those we knew are left. Some are victims to battle and
     murder, their bones strew the veldt; death has taken some in
     a more gentle fashion; others are hidden from us, we know
     not where. We might well fear to return to that land lest we
     also should see ghosts. But though we walk apart to-day, the
     past yet looks upon us with its unalterable eyes. Still we
     can remember many a boyish enterprise and adventure, lightly
     undertaken, which now would strike us as hazardous indeed.
     Still we can recall the long familiar line of the Pretoria
     Horse, the face of war and panic, the weariness of midnight
     patrols; aye, and hear the roar of guns echoed from the
     Shameful Hill.

     To you then, Macumazahn, in perpetual memory of those
     eventful years of youth which we passed together in the
     African towns and on the African veldt, I dedicate these
     pages, subscribing myself now as always,

     Your sincere friend,

     Indanda.

     To Arthur H. D. Cochrane, Esq.