"That's so, my lad. Ever read Jeffreys, and the sketches by the 'Son of the Marshes'?"
"They're splendid."
Mr. Hume nodded and filled a pipe, having a footlong stem, made out of the wing-bone of an albatross.
"I want to describe the personal habits of animals in their surroundings. I said 'personal' habits. Do you take me?"
"No, sir."
"You think I should use another word, and say, perhaps, 'distinctive' habits. I say personal. Now, you take a lion—a bush lion or a veld lion, a yellow lion or a black lion, young or old. That lion, whichever one you take, is a lion by himself. He's got his own character and his own experience. All lions have ways in common because they're built alike. They're heavy and muscular because they've got to pull down big game; and because they're heavy they move slowly, and because they move slowly they've got to adopt common tactics in hunting. Good; but one lion differs from another, and so with other animals, right away through the list. So, I say, one must study the personal habits of animals in their own back yard, so to say, before he can give a true description of them. Do you take my meaning?"
"I should like nothing better than to study animals in their home," said the boy, burning with excitement.
"And the two of you think you would like to join me in my expedition?"
Mr. Hume looked at them out of calm yellowish eyes as if he were studying them.
"We should," they said eagerly.