"The portrait was taken from a young one, before his nose had attained its full growth. But I don't believe in shooting monkeys for the fun of it. Our party are not inclined to eat them."
"I'd as soon eat a cat as a monkey," added Felix.
"Then, don't shoot those long-nosed fellows, for we have all the specimens of them we need," said Louis.
"What are you going to do with them, my darling? You can't keep them much longer, and you will have to throw them overboard, for they won't smell sweet by to-morrow."
"Achang learned something about taxidermy from the naturalist he travelled with, and he has promised to skin and mount one of them for me."
"But what's that you are making, Louis?" asked Felix, who had been trying to take the measure of the implement the young Crœsus was fashioning.
Its use was not at all evident. A triangular piece had been sawed out of the end of a strip of board four inches wide, and the rest of it had been cut down and rounded off, and the thing looked more like a pitchfork than anything else.
"Is it to pitch hay with?" persisted Felix.
"What have you got there, Mr. Belgrave?"