“Here you are. Play with this over in the corner there,” he said. Mafumu took the notebook eagerly. He turned over each page one by one, rubbing his fingers over the pages in which Jack had written. He could not understand anything, of course, because he could not write or read.
He came to where Jack had written the day before. After that the pages were blank. Mafumu was puzzled. Why was nothing written in one half of the book? He rolled himself over beside Jack and pointed to the blank pages.
Jack tried to explain to Mafumu. “Today I write, tomorrow I write, but not till the day has gone,” he said.
“Jack, what’s the date today?” asked Mike idly. “I’ve really lost count of the days, you know! I don’t know if it’s Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or what — or if it’s the tenth, eleventh, twenty-first, or thirtieth of the month!”
“Well, I can tell you, because I’ve written down our adventures every day,” said Jack. “It’s Wednesday — and it’s the sixteenth. Look.”
Mike took the diary. He glanced at the next day, and gave an exclamation.
“Oh, Jack! Look what it says for tomorrow!”
“What?” asked Jack, surprised.
“It says there will be an eclipse of the sun,” said Mike. “I do wonder if we’ll see it here?”
“Let’s ask your father,” said Jack. So the two boys went across to Captain Arnold, with the faithful Mafumu following at their heels.