"How many coolies will you take, sir?"
"None will come."
"Oh, I will get them. Will five do?"
"Yes," I murmured incredulously.
My scepticism sustained a shock when Kachi returned, buoyant, saying in his peculiar English:
"Five Shokas come, sir. Then you, sir, I, sir, five coolies, sir, start night-time, what clock?"
"By Jove, Kachi," I could not help exclaiming, "you are a smart lad."
"'Smart,' sir?" inquired he sharply, hearing a new word. He was most anxious to learn English, and he had a mania for spelling. "'Smart!' What is meaning? How spell?"
"S-m-a-r-t. It means 'quick, intelligent.'"
"Smart," he repeated solemnly, as he wrote the newly-acquired word in a book which I had given him for the purpose. Kachi was undoubtedly, in spite of some small faults, a great character. He was a most intelligent, sharp, well-meaning fellow. His never failing good humour, and his earnest desire to learn and to be useful, were quite refreshing.