

E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Emmy, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)



Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
      file which includes the original illustrations.
      See 27603-h.htm or 27603-h.zip:
      (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/7/6/0/27603/27603-h/27603-h.htm)
      or
      (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/7/6/0/27603/27603-h.zip)





THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK

       *       *       *       *       *

WORKS BY ANDREW LANG.

          COCK LANE AND COMMON SENSE: a Series of Papers
          Crown 8vo. 6_s._ 6_d._ _net._


          BAN and ARRIERE BAN: a Rally of Fugitive Rhymes.
          Crown 8vo. 5_s._ _net._


          ST. ANDREWS. With 8 Plates and 24 Illustrations in
          the Text by T. Hodge. 8vo. 15_s._ _net._


          HOMER AND THE EPIC. Crown 8vo. 9_s._ _net._


          CUSTOM AND MYTH: Studies of Early Usage and
          Belief. With 15 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3_s._
          6_d._


          BALLADS OF BOOKS. Edited by ANDREW LANG. Fcp. 8vo.
          6_s._


          LETTERS TO DEAD AUTHORS. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._
          _net._


          BOOKS AND BOOKMEN. With 2  Plates and 17
          Illustrations. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _net._


          OLD FRIENDS. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _net._


          LETTERS ON LITERATURE. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._
          _net._


          GRASS OF PARNASSUS. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _net._


          ANGLING SKETCHES. With 3 Etchings and numerous
          Illustrations by W. G. Burn-Murdoch. Crown 8vo.
          3_s._ 6_d._


          THE BLUE FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
          134 Illustrations by H. J. Ford and G. P. Jacomb
          Hood. Crown 8vo. 6_s._


          THE RED FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
          100 Illustrations by H. J. Ford and Lancelot
          Speed. Crown 8vo. 6_s._


          THE GREEN FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
          99 Illustrations by H. J. Ford. Crown 8vo. 6_s._


          THE YELLOW FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
          104 Illustrations by H. J. Ford. Crown 8vo. 6_s._


          THE BLUE POETRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
          100 Illustrations by H. J. Ford and Lancelot
          Speed. Crown 8vo. 6_s._

          SCHOOL EDITION, without Illustrations. Fcp. 8vo.
          2_s._ 6_d._

          SPECIAL EDITION, printed on Indian paper. With
          Notes, but without Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7_s._
          6_d._


          THE TRUE STORY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
          66 Illustrations by H. J. Ford, Lucien Davis,
          Lancelot Speed, and L. Bogle. Crown 8vo. 6_s._


          LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
          London and New York.

       *       *       *       *       *


[Illustration: 'IN THE BORGHESE GARDENS PRACTISED THAT ROYAL GAME OF
GOLF.']


THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK

Edited by

ANDREW LANG

[Illustration]

With Numerous Illustrations by Henry J. Ford







London
Longmans, Green, and Co.
and New York
1895

All rights reserved




_INTRODUCTION_


_The Red True Story Book_ needs no long Introduction. The Editor, in
presenting _The Blue True Story Book_, apologised for offering tales so
much less thrilling and romantic than the legends of the Fairies, but he
added that even real facts were, sometimes, curious and interesting.
Next year he promises something quite as true as History, and quite as
entertaining as Fairies!

For this book, Mr. Rider Haggard has kindly prepared a narrative of
'Wilson's Last Fight,' by aid of conversations with Mr. Burnham, the
gallant American scout. But Mr. Haggard found, while writing his
chapter, that Mr. Burnham had already told the story in an 'Interview'
published by the _Westminster Gazette_. The courtesy of the proprietor
of that journal, and of Mr. Burnham, has permitted Mr. Haggard to
incorporate the already printed narrative with his own matter.

'The Life and Death of Joan the Maid' is by the Editor, who has used M.
Quicherat's _Proces_ (five volumes, published for the Historical Society
of France), with M. Quicherat's other researches. He has also used M.
Wallon's Biography, the works of Father Ayroles, S.J., the _Jeanne d'Arc
a Domremy_ of M. Simeon Luce, the works of M. Sepet, of Michelet, of
Henri Martin, and, generally, all printed documents to which he has had
access. Of unprinted contemporary matter perhaps none is known to exist,
except the Venetian Correspondence, now being prepared for publication
by Father Ayroles.

'How the Bass was held for King James' is by the Editor, mainly from
Blackadder's _Life_.

'The Crowning of Ines de Castro' is by Mrs. Lang, from Schaefer.
'Orthon,' from Froissart, 'Gustavus Vasa,' 'Monsieur de Bayard's Duel'
(Brantome), are by the same lady; also 'Gaston de Foix,' from Froissart,
and 'The White Man,' from Mile. Aisse's Letters.

Mrs. McCunn has told the story of the Prince's Scottish Campaign, from
the contemporary histories of the Rising of 1745, contemporary tracts,
_The Lyon in Mourning_, Chambers, Scott, Maxwell of Kirkconnel, and
other sources.

The short Sagas are translated from the Icelandic by the Rev. W. C.
Green, translator of _Egil Skalagrim's Saga_.

Mr. S. R. Crockett, Author of _The Raiders_, told the tales of 'The Bull
of Earlstoun' and 'Grisell Baillie.'

Miss May Kendall and Mrs. Bovill are responsible for the seafarings and
shipwrecks; the Australian adventures are by Mrs. Bovill.

Miss Minnie Wright compiled 'The Conquest of Peru,' from Prescott's
celebrated History.

Miss Agnes Repplier, that famed essayist of America, wrote the tale of
Molly Pitcher.

'The Adventures of General Marbot' are from the translation of his
Autobiography by Mr. Butler.

With this information the Editor leaves the book to children, assuring
them that the stories are _true_, except perhaps that queer tale of
'Orthon'; and some of the Sagas also may have been a little altered from
the real facts before the Icelanders became familiar with writing.




CONTENTS


                                                              PAGE

  _Wilson's Last Fight_                                          1

  _The Life and Death of Joan the Maid_                         19

  _How the Bass was held for King James_                        92

  _The Crowning of Ines de Castro_                              99

  _The Story of Orthon_                                        105

  _How Gustavus Vasa won his Kingdom_                          114

  _Monsieur de Bayard's Duel_                                  122

  _Story of Gudbrand of the Dales_                             125

  _Sir Richard Grenville_                                      132

  _The Story of Molly Pitcher_                                 137

  _The Voyages, Dangerous Adventures, and Imminent Escapes of
      Captain Richard Falconer_                                141

  _Marbot's March_                                             150

  _Eylau. The Mare Lisette_                                    162

  _How Marbot crossed the Danube_                              175

  _The piteous Death of Gaston, Son of the Count of Foix_      186

  _Rolf Stake_                                                 191

  _The Wreck of the 'Wager'_                                   195

  _Peter Williamson_                                           213

  _A Wonderful Voyage_                                         226

  _The Pitcairn Islanders_                                     238

  _A Relation of three years' Suffering of Robert Everard
      upon the Island of Assada, near Madagascar, in
      a Voyage to India, in the year 1686_                     247

  _The Fight at Svolder Island_                                252

  _The Death of Hacon the Good_                                261

  _Prince Charlie's War_                                       265

  _The Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition_                   324

  _The Story of Emund_                                         346

  _The Man in White_                                           354

  _The Adventures of 'the Bull of Earlstoun'_                  358

  _The Story of Grisell Baillie's Sheep's Head_                366

  _The Conquest of Peru_                                       371




_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_


_PLATES_

  _'In the Borghese gardens practised that royal
      game of golf'_                                _Frontispiece_

  _Just as his arm was poised I fired_            _To face p._  10

  _Joan in church_                                     "        24

  _Joan rides to Chinon_                               "        38

  _Joan tells the King his secret_                     "        42

  _The English Archers betrayed by the Stag_           "        64

  _The Coronation of Charles VII_                      "        68

  _'Instantly a gust of wind blew her off the rock
      into the sea'_                                   "        92

  _'One man... stalked about the deck and
      flourished a cutlass... shouting that he
      was "king of the country"'_                      "       196

  _The Indian threatens Peter Williamson_              "       214

  _'Another party of Indians arrived, bringing
      twenty scalps and three prisoners'_              "       218

  _The savages attack the boat_                        "       230

  _'The madman dwelt alone'_                           "       242

  _King Olaf leaps overboard_                          "       256

  _'In the Borghese gardens practised that royal
      game of golf_                                    "       266

  _'I will, though not another man in the
      Highlands should draw a sword'_                  "       272

  _'He galloped up the streets of Edinburgh
      shouting, "Victory! Victory!"'_                  "       294

  _Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo Huaco, the
      Children of the Sun, come from Lake
      Titicaca to govern and civilise the
      tribes of Peru_                                  "       374

  _In one cave the soldiers found vases of
      pure gold, etc._                                 "       412




_WOODCUTS IN TEXT_


                                                              PAGE

  _One of them lifted his assegai_                              17

  _'The Fairy Tree'_                                            20

  _Joan hears the Voice_                                        28

  _Robert thinks Joan crazed_                                   34

  _'Sir, this is ill done of you'_                              37

  _'In a better language than yours,' said Joan_                46

  _'Lead him to the Cross!' cried she_                          50

  _'Then spurred she her horse... and put out the flame'_    53

  _Joan is wounded by the arrow_                                57

  _'Now arose a dispute among the captains'_                    61

  _One Englishman at least died well_                           63

  _Joan challenges the English to sally forth_                  73

  _'Go she would not till she had taken that town'_             79

  _Joan Captured_                                               83

  _Joan at Beaurevoir_                                          85

  _'The burned Joan the Maid'_                                  89

  _The Bass attacked by the frigates_                           97

  _Ines pleads for her life_                                   101

  _'I will send you a champion whom you will fear more than
     you fear me'_                                             107

  _Orthon's last appearance_                                   112

  _Gustavus leaves school for good!_                           115

  _'Lazy loon! Have you no work to do?'_                       119

  _'Surrender, Don Alonzo, or you are a dead man!'_            123

  _'In the following night Gudbrand dreamed a dream'_          127

  _The destruction of the idol_                                130

  _'Still he cried to his men, "Fight on, fight on!"'_         134

  _Molly takes her husband's place_                            139

  _'As we approached we saw the pirate sinking'_               143

  _Falconer knocks down a bird_                                145

  _Falconer returns to his companions_                         148

  _'Then, drawing their swords, they dashed at the rest'_      152

  _Marbot's fight with the Carabineers in the alley_           157

  _Lisette catches the thief in the stable_                    164

  _'I regarded myself as a horseman who is trying to win a
     steeplechase'_                                            166

  _Lisette carries off the Russian officer_                    169

  _'Guided by the transport man he reached me and found me
     living'_                                                  172

  _'"I will go, sir," I cried'_                                177

  _'We had to saw the rope'_                                   182

  _'The Count leaped up, a knife in his hand'_                 188

  _Gaston in prison_                                           189

  _'But now here sits in the high seat a thin stake'_          192

  _'He fleeth not the flame
    Who leapeth o'er the same'_                                193

  _The Captain shoots Mr. Cozens_                              202

  _Mr. Hamilton's fight with the sea-lion_                     205

  _The Cacique fires off the gun_                              208

  _Byron rides past the turnpikes_                             211

  _The captain guarded by the mutineers_                       228

  _The Pitcairn islanders on board the English frigate_        239

  _Old John Adams teaches the children_                        245

  _Death of the supercargo_                                    248

  _'None will now deny that "Long Snake" sails by'_            255

  _Hacon casts his shield away_                                263

  _'Go, sir, to your general; tell him what you have
     seen...'_                                              276

  _Escape of the Duke of Perth_                                281

  _'In many a panelled parlour'_                               284

  _'Och no! she be relieved'_                                  287

  _Mrs. Murray of Broughton distributes cockades to the
     crowd_                                                    289

  _James More wounded at Prestonpans_                          293

  _Crossing Shap Fell_                                         301

  _'Many had their broadswords and dirks sharpened'_           304

  _'The Prince caught him by the hair'_                        307

  _The poor boy fell, mortally wounded_                        311

  _The 'Rout of Moy'_                                          315

  _The end of Culloden_                                        322

  _'The advance party of eight started on October 29'_         327

  _Golah is abandoned_                                         332

  _'King, they are gone!'_                                     337

  _Death of Burke_                                             342

  _Besse introduced to the Man in White_                       355

  _'Saw reflected in the mirror the white figure'_             356

  _'Sometimes he would find a party searching for him quite
     close at hand'_                                           360

  _Alexander Gordon wood-chopping in the disguise of a
     labourer_                                                 362

  _Grisell brings the sheep's head to her father in the
     vault_                                                    367

  _A Peruvian postman_                                         381

  _Almagro wounded in the eye_                                 387

  _Many of the Spaniards were killed by the snakes and
     alligators_                                               389

  _Amazement of the Indians at seeing a cavalier fall from
     his horse_                                                391

  _Pizarro sees llamas for the first time_                     393

  _The cavalier displays his horsemanship before Atahuallpa_   401

  _The friar urges Pizarro to attack the Peruvians_            404

  _The Spaniards destroy the idol at Pachacamac_               407




_WILSON'S LAST FIGHT_

'They were men whose fathers were men'


TO make it clear how Major Wilson and his companions came to die on the
banks of the Shangani on December 4, 1893, it will be necessary, very
briefly, to sketch the events which led to the war between the English
settlers in Mashonaland in South Africa and the Matabele tribe, an
offshoot of the Zulu race.

In October 1889, at the instance of Mr. Cecil Rhodes and others
interested, the Chartered Company of British South Africa was
incorporated, with the sanction of Her Majesty's Government.

In 1890 Mashonaland was occupied, a vast and fertile territory nominally
under the rule of Lobengula, king of the Matabele, which had been ceded
by him to the representatives of the Company in return for certain
valuable considerations. It is, however, an easier task for savage kings
to sign concessions than to ensure that such concessions will be
respected by their subjects, especially when those 'Subjects' are
warriors by nature, tradition, and practice, as in the present case, and
organised into regiments, kept from year to year in perfect efficiency
and readiness for attack. Whatever may have been Lobengula's private
wishes and opinions, it soon became evident that the gathering of the
white men upon their borders, and in a country which they claimed by
right of conquest if they did not occupy it, was most distasteful to the
more warlike sections of the Matabele.

Mashonaland takes its name from the Mashona tribes who inhabit it, a
peaceful and, speaking by comparison, an industrious race, whom, ever
since they first settled in the neighbourhood, it had been the custom of
the subjects of Lobengula and of his predecessor, Mosilikatze, 'the
lion,' to attack with every cruelty conceivable, raiding their cattle,
slaughtering their men, and sweeping their maidens and young children
into captivity. Terrified, half exterminated indeed, as they were by
these constant and unprovoked onslaughts, the Mashonas welcomed with
delight the occupation of their country by white men, and thankfully
placed themselves under the protection of the Chartered Company.

The Matabele regiments, however, took a different view of the question,
for now their favourite sport was gone: they could no longer practise
rapine and murder, at least in this direction, whenever the spirit moved
them. Presently the force of habit overcame their fear of the white men
and their respect for treaties, and towards the end of 1891 the chief
Lomaghondi, who lived under the protection of the Company, was killed by
them. Thereon Dr. Jameson, the Administrator of Mashonaland,
remonstrated with Lobengula, who expressed regret, saying that the
incident had happened by mistake.

This repudiation notwithstanding, an impi, or armed body of savages,
again crossed the border in 1892, and raided in the Victoria district.
Encouraged by the success of these proceedings, in July 1893 Lobengula
sent a picked company to harry in the neighbourhood of Victoria itself,
writing to Dr. Jameson that he made no excuse for so doing, claiming as
he did the right to raid when, where, and whom he chose. The 'indunas,'
or captains, in command of this force were instructed not to kill white
men, but to fall particularly upon those tribes who were in their
employ. On July 9, 1893, and the following days came the climax, for
then the impi began to slaughter every Mashona whom they could find.
Many of these unfortunates were butchered in the presence of their
masters, who were bidden to'stand upon one side as the time of the
white men had not yet come.'

Seeing that it was necessary to take action, Dr. Jameson summoned the
head indunas of the impi, and ordered them to cross the border within an
hour or to suffer the consequences of their disobedience. The majority
obeyed, and those who defied him were attacked by Captain Lendy and a
small force while in the act of raiding a kraal, some of them being
killed and the rest driven away.

From this moment war became inevitable, for the question lay between the
breaking of the power of Lobengula and the evacuation of Mashonaland.
Into the details of that war it is not proposed to enter; they are
outside the scope of this narrative. It is enough to say that it was one
of the most brilliant and successful ever carried out by Englishmen.
The odds against the little force of a thousand or twelve hundred white
men who invaded Matabeleland were almost overwhelming, and when it is
remembered that the Imperial troops did not succeed in their contest
against Cetywayo, the Zulu king, until nearly as many soldiers were
massed in the country as there were able-bodied Zulus left to oppose
them, the brilliancy of the achievement of these colonists led by a
civilian, Dr. Jameson, can be estimated. The Matabele were beaten in two
pitched battles: that of the Shangani on October 25, and that of the
Imbembezi on November 1. They fought bravely, even with desperation, but
their valour was broken by the skill and the cool courage of the white
man. Those terrible engines of war, the Maxim guns and the Hotchkiss
shells, contributed largely to our success on these occasions. The
Matabele, brave as they were, could not face the incessant fire of the
Maxims, and as to the Hotchkiss they developed a curious superstition.
Seeing that men fell dead in all directions after the explosion of a
shell, they came to believe that as it burst out of each missile numbers
of tiny and invisible imps ran forth carrying death and destruction to
the white men's foes, and thus it happened that to their minds moral
terrors were added to the physical dangers of warfare. So strong was
this belief among them, indeed, that whenever a shell struck they would
turn and fire at it in the hope that thus they might destroy the 'live
devils' who dwelt within it.

After these battles Lobengula, having first set fire to it, fled from
his chief place, Buluwayo, which was occupied by the white men within a
month of the commencement of the campaign.

In reply to a letter sent to him by Dr. Jameson, demanding his surrender
and guaranteeing his safety, Lobengula wrote that he 'would come in.'

The promised period of two days' grace having gone by, however, and
there being no sign of his appearance, a force was despatched from
Buluwayo to follow and capture him. This force, which was under the
leadership of Major Patrick W.