Finished   By: Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925)

Italics are represented in the text with underscores . In the interest of readability, where italics are used to indicate non English words, I have silently omitted them or replaced them with quotation marks.

Haggard's spelling, especially of Zulu terms, is wildly inconsistent; likewise his capitalization, especially of Zulu terms. For example, Masapo is the chief of the Amansomi until chapter IX; thereafter his tribe is consistently referred to as the "Amasomi". In general, I have retained Haggard's spellings. Some obvious spelling mistakes (as "Quartermain" for "Quatermain" in one instance) have been silently corrected.

Some diacriticals in the text could not be represented in 7 bit ASCII text and have been approximated here. To restore all formatting, do the following throughout the text:

Replace the pound symbol "" with the English pound symbol Place an acute accent over the "e" in "Nombe", "acces", "Amawombe", and "fiance", and the first "e" in "Bayete" Place a circumflex accent over the "u" in "Harut" and the "o" in "role" Place a grave accent over the "a" and circumflex accents over the first and third "e" in "tete a tete" Replace "oe" with the oe ligature in "manoeuvring"

FINISHED

by H. RIDER HAGGARD

DEDICATION

Ditchingham House, Norfolk, May, 1917.

My dear Roosevelt,

You are, I know, a lover of old Allan Quatermain, one who understands and appreciates the views of life and the aspirations that underlie and inform his manifold adventures.

Therefore, since such is your kind wish, in memory of certain hours wherein both of us found true refreshment and companionship amidst the terrible anxieties of the World's journey along that bloodstained road by which alone, so it is decreed, the pure Peak of Freedom must be scaled, I dedicate to you this tale telling of the events and experiences of my youth.

Your sincere friend,

H. RIDER HAGGARD.

To COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Sagamore Hill, U.S.A.

CONTENTS:

I. ALLAN QUATERMAIN MEETS ANSCOMBE II. MR. MARNHAM III. THE HUNTERS HUNTED IV. DOCTOR RODD V. A GAME OF CARDS VI. MISS HEDA VII. THE STOEP VIII. RODD'S LAST CARD IX. FLIGHT X. NOMBE XI. ZIKALI XII. TRAPPED XIII. CETEWAYO XIV. THE VALLEY OF BONES XV. THE GREAT COUNCIL XVI. WAR XVII. KAATJE BRINGS NEWS XVIII. ISANDHLWANA XIX. ALLAN AWAKES XX. HEDA'S TALE XXI. THE KING VISITS ZIKALI XXII. THE MADNESS OF NOMBE XXIII. THE KRAAL JAZI

INTRODUCTION

This book, although it can be read as a separate story, is the third of the trilogy of which Marie and Child of Storm are the first two parts. It narrates, through the mouth of Allan Quatermain, the consummation of the vengeance of the wizard Zikali, alias The Opener of Roads, or "The Thing that should never have been born," upon the royal Zulu House of which Senzangacona was the founder and Cetewayo, our enemy in the war of 1879, the last representative who ruled as a king. Although, of course, much is added for the purposes of romance, the main facts of history have been adhered to with some faithfulness.