"And do you mean to say that you'll pass the matter over without a word, Kenneth?" asked Aunt Jannet.
"I don't say that, and I don't intend to. But if you imagine, Aunt Jannet, that a cannibal is going to give up his daintiest dish simply for being spoken to, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."
He made his first attempt against cannibalism the next day, and returned from it with a humorous twinkle in his eye.
"Well?" asked Aunt Jannet.
"Well," said Blair, "Ha'o holds that it can't be wrong for him to eat men when we do the same."
"If he'll wait till he sees us doing it, I'll find no fault with him."
"I assured him that white people never ate human flesh. And what do you think was his proof that we did? He pointed to some of those corned-beef tins with George Washington's head on the label, and said, 'There!' and nothing I could say would convince him that George Washington did not represent the contents. He is under the impression that we can our people at home for convenience, and carry them about with us in that way. I assured him it was cow, but it was no use. He could not believe anyone would kill such a beautiful animal as a cow simply for food. He said he would give ten men for one cow any day. So there we are, you see. It will be a matter of time. Meanwhile, I suggest peeling George Washington off the rest of those meat tins!"
"Well, I never!" said Aunt Jannet. "And Ra'a?"
"He is as anxious as you and Captain Cathie to make an end of him; but he acknowledges that it would be dangerous to follow him into the hills, and would certainly mean considerable loss of life, so for the present I have dissuaded him from it."