Prester John

by John Buchan

PRESTER JOHN

by

JOHN BUCHAN

TO
LIONEL PHILLIPS

Time, they say, must the best of us capture,
And travel and battle and gems and gold
No more can kindle the ancient rapture,
For even the youngest of hearts grows old.
But in you, I think, the boy is not over;
So take this medley of ways and wars
As the gift of a friend and a fellow-lover
Of the fairest country under the stars.
J. B.

CONTENTS

I.	[The Man on the Kirkcaple Shore]
II.	[Furth! Fortune!]
III.	[Blaauwildebeestefontein]
IV.	[My Journey to the Winter-Veld]
V.	[Mr Wardlaw Has a Premonition]
VI.	[The Drums Beat at Sunset]
VII.	[Captain Arcoll Tells a Tale]
VIII.	[I Fall in Again with the Reverend John Laputa]
IX.	[The Store at Umvelos']
X.	[I Go Treasure-Hunting]
XI.	[The Cave of the Rooirand]
XII.	[Captain Arcoll Sends a Message]
XIII.	[The Drift of the Letaba]
XIV.	[I Carry the Collar of Prester John]
XV.	[Morning in the Berg]
XVI.	[Inanda's Kraal]
XVII.	[A Deal and Its Consequences]
XVIII.	[How a Man May Sometimes Put His Trust in a Horse]
XIX.	[Arcoll's Shepherding]
XX.	[My Last Sight of the Reverend John Laputa]
XXI.	[I Climb the Crags a Second Time]
XXII.	[A Great Peril and a Great Salvation]
XXIII.	[My Uncle's Gift Is Many Times Multiplied]

CHAPTER I

THE MAN ON THE KIRKCAPLE SHORE