"We shall do so at eight o'clock in the morning; and you will all assemble for the purpose at that time. The lecture on Siam and Cambodia has been postponed till all hands could hear it; and if General Noury is ready, that shall follow the adventures," replied the captain.
"I will be here at the time stated, for we all desire to know what the Nimrods have been doing," replied the general, as the party from the Blanche retired from the music-room.
The rest of the company went to their staterooms, while the commander gave his orders for the work of the morning. All hands were called at daylight; and the young adventurers shook hands with the officers they found on deck, and spoke a pleasant word to the seamen on duty. The latter were hoisting the coal, provisions, and stores of the Blanchita on board of the ship; and by breakfast-time the yacht was as clean as a Dutch chamber.
At the appointed time the company, including the party from the Blanche, were seated in the arm-chairs of Conference Hall; and Louis went through his narrative of the adventures of the Nimrods in Borneo. During the morning, Achang had placed the stuffed orang-outang on a shelf the carpenter had erected at the head of the platform, with the proboscis monkey on one side, and the argus-pheasant on the other. The Bornean had had some experience as a taxidermist, and Dr. Hawkes declared that he had done his work well.
Louis explained these specimens, and gave the measurements of the orang. The proboscis monkey and the bird were also described. When he said he had not been disposed to shoot monkeys and other harmless animals for the fun of it, the audience applauded. He had killed a specimen of several animals, and several pigs, deer, and one bear, most of the latter for food. The cook had packed the last of the fish in the ice, so that it had kept well, and it had been served for breakfast that morning. Everybody had praised it. The surgeon called it the gourami, and said that some successful attempts had been made to introduce the fish in American waters.
The audience laughed heartily when Louis related in what manner they had killed and sold one hundred and eight feet of crocodile for about forty dollars. He told what he had learned about the Dyaks, and described the long-house they had visited, and the head-house, and gave the story in full of Rajah Brooke, and their visits to his nephew and successor, the present rajah. He might have gone on with his narrative till lunch-time if he had not known that General Noury was waiting for him to finish his account.
"Did you see the Dyak women, Louis?" asked his mother.
"Plenty of them. The older ones reminded me of the French women; for when they begin to grow old, they wrinkle and dry up. The morality of the Dyaks is much higher in tone, even among the laboring-classes, men and women, than in civilized countries. They are all honest; and they steal nothing, even in Kuching, though the Malays and Chinamen do it for them."
"Were the young women pretty, Mr. Belgrave?" inquired Mrs. Woolridge.
"To a Dyak gentleman I suppose they are; but I was not fascinated with them, though I saw some on the Simujan who were not bad looking. The prettiest one I saw was at a village near the mountains. But the general is waiting for me to finish, and I must answer no more questions at present," replied the speaker, as he bowed, and hastened from the rostrum.