H. Rider Haggard was an English author known for his fantastic adventure stories as well as his sympathetic portrayal of native peoples. He is best known for creating the fictional character Allan Quartermain, the fictional character who is rumored to be the inspiration for Indiana Jones. The stories collected in this volume represent some of the key elements that Haggard is so well known for. In "Smith and the Pharaohs," Mr. James Ebenezer Smith is trapped inside a Cairo museum. He has sponsored many expeditions into Egypt and has been rewarded with many of such artifacts. However, as he falls asleep in the museum, he dreams about a tribunal in which the Pharaohs of the past judge him for tomb robbing. In "Magepa the Buck," Allan Quartermain talks about his adventures in Africa and about a Zulu man he once met that sacrificed all for his grandson. The other stories include "The Blue Curtains," "The Little Flower," "Only a Dream," and "Barbara Who Came Back."