"Oh, all right, only it does seem so stupid; and if a lot of English boys could see, I daresay they'd laugh like fun."
"If one of them laughed at my father he'd repent it," said Phra hotly.
"Tchah! They wouldn't laugh at your father. I should like to catch 'em at it! I should have something to say then."
Phra caught his friend warmly by the arm, and his eyes brightened.
"They might, though," said Harry solemnly, "if they saw him sitting under that big umbrella, with his silk padung on, looking like an old woman in a petticoat."
"That he doesn't," said Phra warmly; "and I'm sure a padung is a much more comfortable thing out here in a hot country than a pair of trousers."
"Oh, I don't know," said Harry; "but it is jolly hot."
"You don't know, because you have only put one on just for fun; but I often feel disposed to give up wearing trousers, and to go back to a padung again."
"What, go back to being a barbarian?" cried Harry. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself."
"Well, I'm not," said Phra warmly. "It's much cooler, and more pleasant."