Aurelle asked if the captain's family lived in the Antilles.
He was horrified.
"Oh, no! I belong to a Staffordshire family. I went out there quite by chance; I was travelling for pleasure and my boat touched at Santa Lucia; I found the heat very agreeable and I stayed there. I bought some land very cheap and I grow cocoa."
"And it does not bore you?"
"No, the nearest white man is six miles off, and the coast of the island is excellent for sailing. What more could I do at home? When I go to England for three months' holiday, I spend a week at my old home, then I go off in a yacht alone. I have been all round your Brittany coast; it is delightful because the currents are so difficult and your charts are so good; but it is not warm enough. At Santa Lucia I can smoke cigarettes in my pyjamas on my veranda."
He slowly swallowed his port and concluded:
"No, I don't like Europe—too much work. But, out there, there is enough food for everybody."
The colonel at the other end of the table was holding forth about India, the white ponies of his regiment, the native servants with their complicated names and varied duties, and the lax life in the Hills. Parker described hunting on an elephant.
"You stand up on your animal firmly tied on by one leg, and when the elephant gallops you fly into space: it's really most exciting."
"I'll take your word for it," said Aurelle.