“Boy!” he called, and a low-caste native servant came toward him at a run.
“Is that fakir there still?”
“Ha, sahib!”
“Ha? Can't you learn to say 'yes,' like a human being?”
“Yes, sahib!”
“All right. I'm going to have a talk with him. Kill the goat, and tell the Punjabi to wait, if he wants to buy the skin.”
“Ha, sahib!”
Brown spun round on his heel, and the servant wilted.
“Yes, sahib!” he corrected.
Brown left him then, with a nod that conveyed remission of cardinal sin, and a warning not to repeat the offence. As the native ran off to get the butcher-knife and sharpen it, it was noticeable that he wore a chastened look.