“Oh, not long, I expect,” answered Falkner equably, amid the general laugh at his expense.
“Quite so. Then from that, moment you might as well shut up shop.”
“Isn’t this Tyingoza the chief of the location?” asked Miss Sewin.
“Yes. He was here this morning.”
“Oh, I should like to see him.”
“You shall,” I answered. “He’s sure to be here to-night. If not I’ll send over for him the first thing in the morning. He’s a great friend of mine.”
Falkner guffawed. “Friend of yours! Oh, I say now, Glanton. A nigger!”
“All serene, Sewin. I’ve known quite as fine fellows in their way among ‘niggers’ as you call them—as among white men. Strange, isn’t it? But, fact, for all that.”
“Now I come to think of it,” said the Major, “I’ve noticed that the men I’ve met over here, who have large experience of natives, invariably speak well of them.”
I rejoiced that the old man was coming to his senses on that point, because there was less likelihood of him getting disgusted with and leaving the neighbourhood.