And so the girls would run on almost daily, and on such occasions it would have been hard to say who had the last word.
One day, as they were thus merrily talking, Anna said to her friend: “What if it were the Kjahi who gave us that fright the other day?”
“What do you mean, Nana?”
“I mean that it might have been that booby watching us.”
“There is not the least fear of that,” replied Dalima, “he would never have dared to do such a thing. Not one of the young fellows are bold enough for that—he, least of all.”
“Not much boldness required for that,” laughed Anna, “to play the spy on two young girls!”
“Well, I tell you, he would not have dared to do it. But you need not trouble yourself, there was no one there at all. You know how long we kept looking about and, though we had a view of the path for a long way to the right and left, we saw not a single soul.”
“Yet,” rejoined Anna, “it seems to me a very mysterious thing.”
“If there were anybody there at all,” continued Dalima, “it must have been a white man.”
“A white man, Dalima!”