“All right!” I said, “I can wait;” and I walked away with the doctor, horribly annoyed at the waste of time, but wonderfully relieved at matters being no worse.
I never knew, but I suspect that Jimmy stopped in the top of the tree till it was dark and then slunk down and hid himself amongst the bushes close up to the watch-fire.
At all events he was busy the next morning working away as if nothing had been wrong overnight. He showed himself to be most active in putting things straight, making up the loads, and every now and then glancing furtively first at one of us and then at the other.
“Oh, I do like Jimmy, that I do,” said Jack Penny to me, and then he threw himself down and began to laugh heartily, shutting his eyes and rolling himself gently to and fro till he declared that he felt better, and got up.
“I don’t care about laughing when I’m standing up,” he said seriously, “it waggles my back so.”
When breakfast time came, for we had a seven or eight mile walk first in the cool of the early morning, we made a halt and the rations were served out by the doctor, who gave me a look and handed each black his portion in turn, but omitted Jimmy.
The latter stood disconsolately looking on for some minutes in the hope that he was to be remembered after all; but when he saw everybody busy at work eating and himself utterly neglected, he walked slowly away some distance from where we were seated and, laying his head against the trunk of a tree, let out a series of the most unearthly howls.
“Oh, I say!” exclaimed Jack Penny.
“Pleasant,” said the doctor, going on with his breakfast; and seeing that he was observed, and that his howls were having some effect, Jimmy displayed the utter childlike disposition of a savage by redoubling his cries.
“If he don’t stop directly I shall go and talk to him with this,” I said, snatching up a stick.