“So you’ve killed more game!” she exclaimed.
“Game? No; hyenas. I hated to waste good poison on the brutes; but nothing else showed up, and I need a new pair of pa–er–trousers.”
“Was it not dangerous–great beasts like these!”
“Not even enough to make it interesting. I’d have had some fun, though, with that confounded lion when the moon came up, if he hadn’t sneaked off into the grass.”
“A lion?”
“Yes. Didn’t you hear him? The skulking brute prowled around for hours before the moon rose, when it was pitch dark. It was mighty lonesome, with him yowling down by the pool. Half a chance, and I’d given him something to yowl about. But it wasn’t any use firing off my arrows in the dark, and, as I said, he sneaked off before–”
“Tom–Mr. Blake!–you must not risk your life!”
“Don’t you worry about me. I’ve learned how to look out for Tom Blake. And you can just bank on it I’m going to look out for Miss Jenny Leslie, too! . . . . But say, after breakfast, suppose we take a run out on the cliffs for eggs?”
“I do not wish any to-day, thank you.”
He waited a little, studying her down-bent face.