King Solomon's Mines (World's Best Reading)

A sensation when it was first published in England (1885), King Solomon's Mines carried readers away on the wings of adventure long before computerized special effects were ever dreamed of. One of the first African adventure stories inspired by the exploits of Richard Burton and others, it recounts famed African explorer Allan Quatermain's thrilling search for the fabled diamond mine of the Biblical King Solomon, located deep in Africa's "heart of darkness." As Quatermain and his companions, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good, retrace the steps of Sir Henry's brother, who disappeared searching for the mine, the intrepid trio braves parching deserts and icy mountains, survives wicked witchcraft and fierce tribes, only to be lured into an eerie stalactite cave of skeletons and narrowly escape being buried alive in a tomb of diamonds.