“Yes, aren’t you glad?”
“Glad, sir? Will you excuse me asking you a question?”
“Of course. What is it?”
“Would you be good enough to tell me why we come out here, if, as soon as we find a place like this, we want to start back?”
“The place is dangerous. These blacks—”
“Bother the blacks! Who cares for the blacks, sir? Why, haven’t we licked ’em over and over again? Oh, well, sir, I’m not master. All I’ve got to say, sir, is, I’m jolly sorry we came.”
“Then you are glad we are going back?”
“That I ain’t, sir. I say it’s a shame. Why, the fun has only just begun.”
“Ah, well, we’re not going yet. I said I should like to stay and see more, and do more collecting, and ascend the mountain by the way we came down.”
“There, I beg your pardon, Mr Jack, sir, I do indeed, for I was all wrong. Thought you were saying that because of the niggers; and I did hope you were too English for that.”