“Well, it do look like it, cert’nly,” growled Shaddy.
“Then, too, I remember the shape of the bank, and look how the river bends round and comes in a curve. Of course this is the place; I’m quite sure it is.”
“Right, my lad! so was I, quite sure,” cried Shaddy dismally; “but I was hoping and praying that I might be wrong, because if you are right, sir— No, I won’t say it.”
“Yes, you will, Naylor,” cried Brazier sternly. “Speak out.”
“What! if it’s very bad, sir?”
“Yes, my man; this is no time for trifling. Tell me the worst.”
“There’s Mr Rob here, sir,” said the guide, in a tone full of protest.
“I want to know the worst, too, Shaddy,” said Rob resignedly.
“Then I’ll tell you, gentlemen, only don’t blame me for making your hearts as sore as mine is now.”
“Tell us everything, my man. For bad or good, in this journey we must work together for our mutual help and protection, not merely as master and paid servant, but as Englishmen in a strange country, as brothers in a foreign land.”