"Yes! A beauty! How did you get on with the other three?"
"So—so! . . . One of them broke loose on the way back—and I had to shoot it."
"But. . . ."
"For heaven's sake, don't argue!" I said. "If I hadn't shot the brute. . . . Well, as it was, Oakley very nearly crashed."
"We do seem to be unlucky, George!" he complained.
"I think it's just the opposite. Four captures on the first day is far better than any of us expected. We're collecting gorillas—not monkey-nuts."
"I agree. But Stringer and you should have paid greater attention to the bindings. There's really no excuse, George, for slipshod work in a dangerous job like this. We don't want any blood shed, either our own or the gorillas. Already, we've lost one life and it was apparently by the merest fluke that we didn't lose two others."
It was disgraceful of him to start lecturing a man who had just been through what I had. Besides, he was no paragon himself.
"What about yourself and your silly monkey trick this morning?" I retorted. "You nearly lost your life! If ever a man had a beam in his eye . . ."
"Now, now, George! I'm only telling you what should be obvious to everyone of us. We must exercise more care. We're getting far too matter-of-fact. Things have been too easy for us."