
By H. de Vere Stacpoole
The story opens in the remote English countryside, where the imposing Grange estate looms over chestnut‑lined approaches. Its rooms are a museum of trophies—pythons supporting lamps, rhinoceros‑horn handles, and walls crowded with the skulls and hides of Africa’s vanished wildlife. The house’s owner, Patrick Spence, is an aging Anglo‑Irish big‑game hunter whose reputation for both daring exploits and ruthless honesty precedes him.
A visitor from a nearby village is welcomed for a day of fishing and an evening of hearty fare, only to be drawn into Spence’s recollections of a distant African hunt. Over the crackling fire, the old man begins a vivid tale about a pair of seemingly ordinary slippers that cost him a fortune of ivory and the lives of several men—an anecdote that hints at deeper, untold adventures in the wilds beyond the Limpopo. The narrative promises a blend of wilderness, memory, and the lingering echoes of a world that is already disappearing.
Language
en
Duration
~28 minutes (27K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Street & Smith Corporation, 1922.
Credits
Roger Frank.
Release date
2022-02-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1863–1951
Best remembered for writing The Blue Lagoon, he was an Irish novelist and trained doctor whose sea stories and island romances carried generations of readers far from everyday life. His books often drew on his medical work at sea and his gift for vivid, dreamlike settings.
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