I was in both the Matabele wars, and I've seen a heap of other fighting which never got into the papers.

So what I tell you you can take as gospel, for it is knowledge that was not learned in a day.' He puffed away, and then asked suddenly, 'Did you ever hear of Prester John ?' 'The man that lived in Central Asia ?' I asked, with a reminiscence of a story-book I had as a boy.

'No, no,' said Mr Wardlaw, 'he means the King of Abyssinia in the fifteenth century.

I've been reading all about him.

He was a Christian, and the Portuguese sent expedition after expedition to find him, but they never got there.