“Send—this gun, sir?”
“Yes. Didn’t I speak plainly? Didn’t the professor, my friend here, say it was a good gun?”
“Yes, sir, yes: it is an excellent piece of the best English make.”
“Well, I want a gun, and I suppose any piece would go off as that did if somebody handled it as stupidly as I did.”
“Yes, sir, of course.”
“Then send it on, and the pistol too. Ah, that’s better—I’m easier; but I say, Preston, I shall have to be carried back.”
“I’m very glad you are easier, but really if I were you I would see a doctor.”
“I’ve no objection to seeing a doctor, my dear sir, but I’m not going to have him do anything to me.”
“Then you really wish us to go on with our purchases?”
“Why, of course, man, of course. What did we come for? Go on, man, go on. Here, mister, show me one or two of these long carving knives.”