This collection of stories with a supernatural bent came rather late in Haggard's career, at a time when the quality of his writing was in clear decline. With Smith and the Pharaohs, however, you get an exception to that state of affairs. The title story, about an archaeologist trapped for the night in the Cairo Museum, is remarkable not only for its ghostly narrative but for the application of Haggard's usual melancholy mood at the end, which transcends all notions of fright. Other tales focus on a missionary in Zululand, a sacrificing mother in the English countryside and her frail lawyer husband, a Quatermain story, and a lovelorn soldier. Ghosts, black magic, white magic, reincarnation, and karmic speculations run throughout as themes. ( )