“Have you ever been attacked?”
“Not yet; but it’s safe to come some time or other, so I hold myself ready. It’s not quite so bad as I said last night.”
“No; I didn’t think it was,” replied Stan coolly; and he was conscious that his host was watching him keenly.
“But without any nonsense, you may have to fight, my lad, if you stay here.”
“I hope not,” said Stan, breaking the top of an egg.
“So do I,” said the manager. “I don’t want my people scared, and the place knocked to pieces or burned. That’s the worst of a wooden building like this. Ah! it’s a risky trade, and your people deserve to make plenty of profit for their venture.”
Little more was said till the breakfast was at an end, when the ting of a table-gong brought Wing into the room.
“Take away,” said the manager sharply; “and as soon as you have done, I want you to hire a boat and go up-river to stop at all the villages that were not touched at before you went away. We must do more business with the places higher up. You go and see the headmen of some of the tea-plantations there who have never dealt with us yet. Understand?”
The man nodded sharply, and the manager turned to Stan.
“Now then,” he said; “let’s look at the tools.”