"When did he die?"
"Long time ago—ten or twelve year ago."
"Where did he die?"
"Mans—robber mans—kill him with sword."
"And your mother?"
Black and Blue told the doctor the whole of their history since the death of Captain Gay, and his statements were substantially true. Black and Blue, however, declared most positively that his father was a native, and no European.
"Do you think," the doctor inquired, "that your mother would see me, if I went down to her home?"
"O yes—why not? Come along, Sahib. I will show where she live. You call for palanquin and get on. I run alongside."
The doctor's curiosity was very strong, and he could not resist the desire to satisfy it at once. He accepted Black and Blue's invitation, and went to the house occupied by Ellen. Habited as a native, she was sitting on a coarse mat, smoking, and at the same time mending an old garment of her son's.