Prester John

John Buchan (1875 - 1940)

This classic adventure novel by the author of Greenmantle and The Thirty-Nine Steps relates the first-person exploits of young David Crawfurd before the age of twenty.

As a boy growing up on the coast of Scotland, minister's son Davie and two friends were pursued with murderous intent along the cliffs one night by John Laputa, a visiting black African preacher, whom they had witnessed performing un-Christian rites round a campfire on the beach. A few years later, when his father's death forces Davie to quit college and join the tribe of wandering Scots, our hero finds himself in South Africa, assistant shopkeeper in a seemingly sleepy back-veldt store. There he re-encounters Laputa, now charismatic leader of an incipient native uprising, secretly preaching the incendiary creed of "Africa for the Africans," and proclaiming himself heir to the mantle of Prester John, a legendary 15th-century Christian king of Ethiopia.

Can young Davie possibly penetrate the megalomaniac's mountain stronghold, foil the insurrection, prevent a massacre of white settlers, and make off with the rebels' war-chest of gold and diamonds? It's going to take some doing - and not a little derring-do!

Genre(s): Action & Adventure Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 I - The Man on the Kirkcaple Shore Grant Hurlock
00:26:30
Play 02 II - Furth! Fortune! Grant Hurlock
00:29:51
Play 03 III - Blaauwildebeestefontein Grant Hurlock
00:21:47
Play 04 IV - My Journey to the Winter-veld Grant Hurlock
00:23:31
Play 05 V - Mr. Wardlaw Has a Premonition Grant Hurlock
00:14:07
Play 06 VI - The Drums Beat at Sunset Grant Hurlock
00:21:02
Play 07 VII - Captain Arcoll Tells a Tale Grant Hurlock
00:28:55
Play 08 VIII - I Fall in Again with the Reverend John Laputa Grant Hurlock
00:14:19
Play 09 IX - The Store at Umvelos' Grant Hurlock
00:17:50
Play 10 X - I Go Treasure Hunting Grant Hurlock
00:12:55
Play 11 XI - The Cave of the Rooirand Grant Hurlock
00:21:20
Play 12 XII - Captain Arcoll Sends a Message Grant Hurlock
00:24:56
Play 13 XIII - The Drift of the Letaba Grant Hurlock
00:11:21
Play 14 XIV - I Carry the Collar of Prester John Grant Hurlock
00:22:44
Play 15 XV - Morning in the Berg Grant Hurlock
00:16:45
Play 16 XVI - Inanda's Kraal Grant Hurlock
00:20:53
Play 17 XVII - A Deal and Its Consequences Grant Hurlock
00:24:42
Play 18 XVIII - How a Man May Sometimes Put His Trust in a Horse Grant Hurlock
00:15:06
Play 19 XIX - Arcoll's Shepherding Grant Hurlock
00:20:06
Play 20 XX - My Last Sight of the Reverend John Laputa Grant Hurlock
00:20:43
Play 21 XXI - I Climb the Crags a Second Time Grant Hurlock
00:22:57
Play 22 XXII - A Great Peril and a Great Salvation Grant Hurlock
00:20:21
Play 23 XXIII - My Uncle's Gift Is Many Times Multiplied Grant Hurlock
00:12:13