“Sit down and take it with me, then; we can talk while we eat.”
Rex would much rather have gone through his examination and made off to breakfast with his chum, but as he could not refuse the invitation, he sat down in no very good temper. Sir Claude smiled a little.
“I can understand,” he said after a minute or two, “by what you said last time I had a conversation with you, that you donʼt like having your good deeds talked about.”
“I donʼt like being talked about in any way, sir.”
“But in that case, Mr. Bateman, you should not do things that necessitate your being talked about.”
Rex, after a little struggle to maintain his serious face, laughed.
“Well, sir, I can assure you that if I had my own way I should prefer to go about and do what I like and to keep it entirely to myself.”
“Well, now, you see, the thing has come out, Mr. Bateman, certainly not from what you said about it, but from the report made by Mr. Graham, when you applied to him for thirteen Chinamen to be put on rations. I have just been telling these gentlemen of the manner in which you rescued your cousins, and they, as well as myself, want to hear this second chapter of adventure. Please tell us all about it.”
“There is very little to tell, sir.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Bateman, there must be a good deal to tell, and as you must be perfectly well aware that you ought not to have left the Legation without permission, the least you can do is to give us a full account of your reasons for doing so, and of the manner in which you carried out your adventure. Now, please, begin at the beginning and tell us how you learned that the people were in hiding.”