“Sorry, sir!” I cried passionately; “it is horrible.”
“Yes, it is unfortunate, but an accident,” he said smilingly, as he laid his hand upon my shoulder. “You have not fought much since I saw you last?”
“Fought? No,” I said, unable to keep back a smile at his question.
“Ah! you laugh, but I have one memory of your prowess in that way. There, remove those marks.”
“That’s better,” he said, a few minutes later. “Now I want to know all about your adventures.”
“And I about yours, sir,” I said eagerly, for we were alone, Esau having passed out of the strangers’ quarters with his mother. “Tell me about Mrs John. Is she better?”
“Ah, you did not see,” he said, with a smile that was quite womanly lighting up his face. “For a time she frightened me, but once we were at sea she began to mend, and for months now the change has been wonderful.”
“I am glad,” I cried.
“Yes, wonderful,” he continued. “My brother Raydon was right; but had I known, enthusiastic as I am, what a terribly long, slow, tedious journey it was across those vast plains, I should never have dared to venture.”
“But she has borne it well?”