"I'm afraid, sir, that was a mistake," said Mr. Kenyon. "It may have suggested to the enemy a means of attacking and destroying us without risk to themselves."
"By firing the palace," said the King gravely. "Yes. I thought of that. It is possible, and we must be prepared. Fire is easily mastered when it is small—a jar of water is sufficient; when it grows large, it takes a river."
They passed on, talking together, and the boys began and continued recalling the many expeditions they had made with Sree. What a brave man he was! how full of knowledge of animal life in the jungle, and how devoted to them in his simple, unostentatious manner!
"Yes, poor old Sree!" sighed Harry; "and now he's gone, and Adong too."
"Think so?" said Phra, looking up sharply.
"Oh, yes, or he would have been back with help," replied Harry. "Phra, old chap, I never felt so unhappy before in my life. It seems as if it was all over now."
"But it isn't," said Phra. "There is so much for us to do."
"To help our fathers?"
"Yes."
Harry sat back in his seat and began to think seriously, for his comrade's words had impressed him deeply, and as he sat there in the darkness of the night it dawned upon him more and more that in life one has to give up self for the sake of others, and that even at the very worst, when there is a disposition to think that one's own sorrows are everything, others have troubles and sorrows too that it is our duty to help and combat.