"Almost from the outset of his career, Sir Rider Haggard has made use of Allan Quatermain both as a hero, and as a chronicler. He took part in his earliest stories, and he is taking part in his latest... As a middle-aged man, he recounts the happenings of a dangerous expedition into the heart of Africa in search of an orchid of wondrous beauty... More is at stake during the progress of the story than the quest of the marvelous orchid. It appears some time after the tale is well under way that the custodian of this sacred floral god of the Pongos is a white woman, and that she may be the vanished wife of John Eversley. I looked at Brother John and Brother John looked at me, but at the time we made no further remark. The thing was too curious, that is, unless he lied. But nobody had ever known him to lie. He was a truthful person, painfully truthful at times. And yet there are people who do not believe in prayer. "What is it?" he asked. "Mauled by leopard. Wounds won't heal, and fever. I don't think he can last long." "What do you know about it? Let me see him." Well, he saw him and did wonderful things. That tin box of his was full of medicines and surgical instruments, which latter he boiled before he used them.