"Love him! Well, you shall see for yourself; if, in return for the lift I am giving you, you won't mind talking to them a bit."
"I shall be glad to; it may remind me of my own friends."
"Where are your friends?--Now, Dozy!" this to the old mare, who had stopped suddenly short; "what d'ye stop for? The sense of the creature!" he added proudly, pointing, to a bird some yards in front of them. "Get out of my way, little bird!"
"When I first heard you say that," said Joshua, "I was sure you had a kind heart."
"Fond of birds yourself, mate?"
"Very, very fond. The tenderest remembrances of my life are connected with them."
Ramsay cast a sharp glance at the half-savage.
"Been long among the Blacks, mate? or isn't the story true?"
"It's true enough. Long among them? Ay--years, but I don't know how long."
Joshua, indeed, had lost count of time.