“I’d noticed it,” said Jim, still handling his shoulder carefully. “Wonderful how well you wake up when you make up your mind to it! Oh, I don’t quite know what to do! But come out, anyhow.”
“Well, we haven’t got very much shore time, so we may as well make the best of it,” Wally assented, searching among the débris of the room for his socks. “Land certainly does feel good under one’s feet once more. Do we go for a walk along the beach, or what?”
“No, I don’t want any more sea-views for a bit,” Jim answered. “We’ll have plenty for the next month. I vote we go into the town and explore a bit. There may be nothing to see, but it’s full of such queer people that you never know what you may run into if you go off the beaten track—and of course we can’t do that when Norah is with us.”
“No. It sounds as if it might be interesting,” Wally said. “Jim, you great camel, one of my socks is in the basin!—I hope to goodness I packed up another pair.” He dived for his suit-case, and sighed with relief on finding a further supply. “That saves your skin, old man. By the way, what about the native market?”
“I was wondering,” said Jim. “Of course, it’s Sunday—but one doesn’t know how our Sunday affects these brown and black gentry. The doctor said it began at some unearthly hour, and I think he said it was always open, so it might be available on a Sunday.”
“We might try,” Wally said. “Markets are generally best if you catch ’em in the very early morning. Do you know where it is?”
“Only that it’s the other side of the town from here,” Jim answered. “We may pick up a stray rickshaw; or if not, we’ll find some one to ask. Anyhow, it will be an exploration.”
“Right-oh!” Wally agreed. “Durban seems to me much like any other place if you omit the people—those queer coloured mixtures are the most interesting part, by a long way. I’d like to find that market.”
“Same here. It will be a walk, anyhow—and then we’ll get back in time for a swim before breakfast. No need to leave a note on the pincushion, like the eloping young ladies in novels, I suppose?”
“Oh, we’ll be back before they’re awake!” Wally said. “Anyhow, your father would understand that we had gone off on a voyage of discovery.”