"They'll take some catching," I said. "If we could pursue the ladies, instead of trying to lure them . . . up to the gas-works. . . ."
"You're quite right, George. Were we merely after their blood, instead of their glands—like the so-called average sportsman—we should have been overstocked by now!"
Stringer, who very seldom had any suggestion to make, joined in. The slump in captives had depressed him even more than the rest of us.
"I think the mistake," he observed, "was not to have kept the old men in Corisco. We could then have shot our gorillas, taken their glands back the same evening, and finished the whole job within twenty-four hours. This business of collecting live gorillas and keeping them for several months. . . ." Words failed him and he made no effort to conceal his disgust.
Gran'pa disagreed, as usual.
"I thought all this out before," he said. "I didn't feel that the climate here would suit men of seventy and upwards."
"It seems to have agreed with Miss Froud," grunted Stringer, rather rudely.
I am thankful to say that Sally Rebecca and Molly had tactfully left us, no doubt aware that trouble was brewing.
Gran'pa, who hated criticism, kept calm. He weighed his words carefully, and uttered them soothingly.
"You must remember," he pointed out, "that Miss Froud is an exception. Not only is she the youngest and healthiest of these old people but, in addition, she has naturally been the object of more individual care and attention than I could possibly lavish on a party of eighty-seven old men."