"So."
"There is mention of the 'gates' to the garden, whose summits 'are in the clouds'—twin mountains, I take it."
"Even so, Dick, I think I should have more chance of finding my new animal than you would have of hitting off your garden."
"Well, you know now why I have been studying Arabic. I have a little money, and no ties."
"Like me. By Jove! why shouldn't we go out together?"
"Because we have some sense, I suppose," said Compton, coolly. "Have you ever roughed it?"
"I have slept out in the New Forest—often."
"Oh, that's picnicking, with the bark of the fox in place of the lion's roar, and good food in place of 'hard tack,' and perhaps the attentions of a suspicious keeper instead of a surprise attack by wild men of the woods. An explorer needs experience."
"Yes, and he must buy his own experience; but tell me how he can, unless he makes a beginning."
"Now we come to the point, Venning. He should begin with some one who already has experience."