"Marie"
This is the account of Allan Quatermain's youth and of his first wife, Marie. This novel is the first in the trilogy which recount the collapse of the Zulu kingdom, a collapse engineered (in these fictionalised accounts of real events) by Zikali. The second book is "Child of Storm", and the third, "Finished".
Quatermain spent in youth in the Cradock district of the Cape Colony with his father, a clerhyman of the Church of England. Their nearest neighbour is the Boer farmer Henri Marais, who lives with his young daughter Marie, at Maraisfontein, a mere 15 miles away. The Marais' are of Hugenout stock, and retained the French language, after a manner. Marie receives lessons in French and other subjects from a drunken Frenchman, one Leblanc, and the miserly Marais offered to allow Allan to share the lessons, for a contribution to the upkeep of Leblanc. This is agreed, and Allan spends two days a week at Maraisfontein. Marie, who is a few months older and half an inch taller than Allan, is happy to have a companion.
Time passes. It is 1835 (when they are aged about 19), and the Kaffir war has broken out. Although this is mainly in the Albany and Somerset districts, there is some grounds for concern at Maraisfontein and the Quatermain mission. Unfortunately Leblanc, when slightly under the influence of his peach brandy, shoots the son and heir of a local chief, Quabie. Hans, Quatermain's Hottentot servant, is warned that the Kaffirs plan to attack Maraisfontein and massacre its inhabitants. Leblanc had neglected to tell anyone of his action, so no precautions had been taken, and indeed Henri Marais had ridden to a distant farm. Hans tells Allan, who rides with Hans the 15 miles in 35 minutes to get there before dawn, when the attack is due. They dash through a line of men, and warn the house in time to arrange a defence (8 servants, who were really slaves, Leblacn, and Marie, as well as Allan and Hans).
As Allan observed "it is a poor Kaffir that does not love fighting, especially when he has a gun and a white man or two to lead him". But there are 200-300 Kaffirs, and all they can do is hold off the attack until the Reverend Mr Quatermain can raise the local Boers and bring help. The Kaffirs steal the 150 cattle and 2,000 sheep, so Henri Marais will be ruined, whatever loss he may suffer.
Allan and Marie declare their love for one another.
Allan shoots the leader of the attack, and a herald offers terms - that if they surrender Leblanc and accept the 'fine' of all the livestock, they will be allowed to depart. However, Leblanc treacherously shoots the herald. The Kaffirs now advance under cover of a wall of stones taken from the cattle kraal. They also fire the thatch which covered part of the roof of the house, so that the defenders have to withdraw to the rear of the house. The attackers are however caught in the fall of the burning rafters, which disposes of many, and delays the onslaught. Leblanc is seized and not seen alive again - his headless corpse is later recovered, after he had "expiated ... any crimes that he might have committed".
Allan, Marie and Hans withdrew into a small windowless room which had served Allan as a bedroom on his visits. Since Marie cannot fall alive into the hands of the Kaffirs, Allan agrees to shoot her and then himself with his pistol. Hans agrees that it is right and proper to do so. The door is almost down and Allan has placed his gun at Marie's temple when they hear shooting - and gunfire. Henri Marais, Mr Quatermain, and a number of Boers have arrived just in time. The relief party includes Hernando Pereira, Henri's rich and arrogant nephew, and Pieter Retief, a former frontier commandant.
Hernando Pereira, whom Allan dislikes because he is a rival for Marie's hand, and because of his manner, offers to buy the mare which Allan rode to Maraisfontein. Allan refuses, but he agrees to wager it on a shooting match - Pereira is a noted champion shot. Even though Allan is scarcely recovered from the wound he received in the attack on the farm, the match (at which they shoot geese with rifles) is a draw - until it is shown that Pereira has been cheating by using bullets which are sawn almost in two. Pereira is shamed in the face of all the neighbouring Boers, who whilst ostensibly gathered to watch the match are actually meeting to decide whether or not to trek north into Natal.
Marais opposes a marriage between Allan and Marie, because Allan is poor (as he is now), and English, because they will be trekking, and because he has promise Pereira that he should marry Marie. Hans offers to poison Pereira, not to kill but to render him quite mad, but Allan rejects this kind offer. Marie promises to marry Allan, or no one, but asks Allan to marry someone else "if I should be taken ... since it is not well or right that men should live alone". The Marais' terk through the Rustenberg towards Delago Bay, which is all fever veld, and the country between is full of fierce Kaffirs. Their party has 20 men, 30 women and children, besides 50 half-breeds and Hottentot after-riders.
Henri Marais, though he hates Mr Quatermain as an Englishman, respects him as a man of education and honesty, and asks him to receive in his behalf the £100 he is to get for the sale of Maraisfontein to Jacobus van der Merve, and the £253 he is to get from the Government for the manumission of his slaves.
They hear nothing for a year. Allan is in decline, which is somewhat arrested when he is called up to serve as a lieutenant in a border corps in a Kaffir frontier war for a year. Three weeks after his return he receives a letter from Marie, delivered by a travelling Jew trader. Marie tells him that they are marooned near Delagoa Bay, without transport - the cattle are all dead - or food, and that of the 35 in their party only 9 have so far survived the fever with which the place is infested. She asks him to send help if he can.
Allan Quatermain rides his mare the 180 miles to Port Elizabeth in time to reach the only ship scheduled to sail for Delagoa Bay for a year - he makes it, although the mare dies. Arriving in Delagoa Bay, he buys a slave woman who knew something of the emigrant Boers. Trekking inland through fever infested regions, Quatermain and Hans discover the survivors of the Boers - 9 of the original 35 - including Marie, HHenri Marais, and Pereira (though the latter has riden away "to get help"). They have died of the fever, and starvation since then, since their powder was lost in a bush fire. Allan, against his inclination, goes on to rescue Pereira, who has lost his horse and is starving on the veldt. He nurses him back to health. After their return to the camp, Pereira borrows from Allan so that he - Pereira - can trek separately. The surviving Boers mistrust Pereira, especially since he had abandoned them and taken the last of their powder. They were to rendevous with Retief in Natal.
The main party, now led by Allan, is surrounded by an impi. The Zulu have been warned of their coming. Their captain, Kambula, explains that Dingaan has been advised by a Boer who preceeded them (presumably Pereira) that their number included a dangerous Englishman, who had to be killed, or they themselves would be killed. Quatermain, whom Kambula names Macumazahn, persuades him that he is harmless, and they are led to the Great Place, Umgungundhlovu.
The Vrouw Prinsloo is introduced as leader of the band (Inkosikaas), since she declares the men are all mad - except Allan.
Dingaan secretly fears the Boers and wants to kill them all. However, he bets with Allan that he will let them go if he (Allan) can hit three of five vultures over the Hill of Slaughter, the place of execution (Hloma Amabutu). If Allan fails Dingaan will kill all the Boers except Marie, spare Allan, and take Marie into his harem (Emposeni).
Allan rests preparatory to the trial of skill. A voice tells him - or he imagines it tells him - to have trial run. He does so, and studies the peculiarities of the vultures. Dingaan kindly arranges an execution to attract the birds. They are a grandfather, son and grandson whose cattle Dingaan wants - and which he will inherit upon the extinction of the family. The grandfather summoned Dingaan to the land of Ghosts in 30 months, which was approximately when he did die.
Allan misses the first two birds because, as Hans explains, they see the flash of the gun. So firing from behind them Allan manages to hit the next three. However the last he fired at, the king of the flock, did not fall, but instead flew up into the sky. Dingaan calls "Bulala amalogu" ("Kill the white people"), when the king vulture falls to earth. They are ordered to trek the next day, Dingaan being angry at Allan's success and loosing his bet (upon which a number of cattle depended) - and Marie.
Dingaan saw Marie, and offered Allan 100 cattle and 10 girls for her - but he declined.
The party met Retief's mission on its way to the Zulu capital, accompanied by Pereira, and continued their trek into Natal, crossing the Tugela River. Allan and Marie choose a spot for their home by the Mooi River, some 12,000 acres of land.
Retief sought permission from Dingaan for the Boers to settle south of the Tugela to the sea. Dingaan would consider the request if they would recover some cattle stolen by Sikonyela. Retief, with Allan's assistance, do so, driving the 5,000 cattle to Umgungundhlovu. They are warned against carrying out their mission to Dingaan, but Retief persists (despite Allan's misgivings).
Allan and Marie are married by Retief as commandant and veld cornet, then Allan departed as part of the mission.
Dingaan agrees to the terms proposed by Retief, but at the same time privately tells Allan that he has the king's promise of protection - but that he wants Marie. It is not clear why Allan should need protection. He tells Retief, but the commandant dismisses his fears. Allan sends a message to Marie, asking her to leave the camp and go to the site of their new home, taking their friends the Prinsloos and Meyers with them. Pereira and Marais leave Umgungundhlovu.
That same morning Allan is lured from the gathering of Boers, and seized. He is forced to watch helpless as the Boers are massacred by Zulu warriors ("Bulala abatagati": "slay the wizards"). They are overpowered by the Zulus and taken to the Hill of Slaughter, where they are done to death.
Allan recovers from a swoon to hear a hideous laugh - that of Zikali, the wizard, whose urging led to the massacre.
Quatermain is kept a prisoner by Naya, a wife of Dingaan, for a week. Kambula then escorted him out of Zululand. He finds Hans, who escaped the massacre of the camp followers by hiding in a storks' nest up a tree. They discover that 700 Boers have been massacred, including most of Retief's party (all those in the mission to Dingaan are dead except Allan and Hans). However, Marie and their friends have followed Allan's orders and had left the camp.
They make their way to the new home. Marie sees Allan, and initially thinks that God has sent him to lead her hence (she is dressed as a widow, having heard of the general destruction of the mission). Allan soon undeceive her. The next morning - after their first night as husband and wife - a party of Boers, including Henri Marais and Hernan Pereira, arrive.
Allan Quatermain is charged with urging Dingaan to kill the Boers. He is tried by the commandant and six elders. On the testimony of Pereira, back by that of Marais, he is convicted. Vrouw Prinsloos and the other members of his party are not allowed to give evidence in his favour. He is condemned by the tribunal. However, because he is a British subject, and because of the seriousness of the situation, the tribunal agrees to allow the sentence to be confirmed by a general court of the emigrant Boers.
The Boers don't want to go to the trouble of an appeal, so they decide that Allan will be shot while trying to escape. Pereira is to carry out the execution, and the other Boers, excepting the original party, and Henri Marais, ride off, to be conveniently out of the way. Hans overhears all, and tells Marie.
Marie drugged Allan, and with the help of Hans and Vrouw Prinsloo, dresses him in her clothes and removes him from the house in a state of semi-consciousness. He is then hidden in a mealie pit. Hernan Pereira shoots Marie, thinking it is Allan. He is then shot by Henri Marais when they realise who has been shot. Allan recovers consciousness in time to see Pereira confess his guilt, before the Boers, who have ridden up. Henri Marais goes mad. Allan himself is incoherent with delirium for two weeks, by which time Marie is well buried.
In some ways this is a depressing story. Quatermain is unlucky in love. His first love, Marie, is lost to him immediately after marriage (which, however, they apparently consumated). Stella, his second wife - and the subject of "Allan's Wife", is lost to him after the birth of their son, Tom - who dies just before the final account of Allan Quatermain, in "Allan Quatermain". He is loved by assorted African beauties, not least by Mameena, in "Child of Storm". Though the Boers are to blame for Marie's death, neither Quatermain nor Haggard hold them altogether wrong - the real fault lies at the feet of Hernan Pereira, who is a typical Haggard villain, a man without scrupples and completely lacking in self-control or sympathy for others.
It might be expected that an account of the Great Trek would be sorrowful, as this story is. Interestingly Haggard manages to weave real historical events into his story some success. The massacre of the Boers under Retief by Dingaan, and the subsequent dispersal of the trekkers, is told with sympathy for the Boers, and without casting the Zulus is a bad light. They were all the victims of circumstances, just as Marie Quatermain sacrificed herself for her husband, knowing that she wass but paying for the saving of her own life years earlier.