[With a shrug of the shoulders.] I've often been driven to appease the pangs of raging hunger with a careless epigram, and by the laborious composition of a limerick I have sought to deceive a most unholy thirst.
Doctor.
Well, last night I thought you'd made your last joke, old man, and that I had given my last dose of quinine.
Dick.
We were in rather a tight corner, weren't we?
Doctor.
This is the third expedition I've gone with Mackenzie against the slave-raiders, and I promise you I've never been so certain that all was over with us.
Dick.
Funny thing death is, you know. When you think of it beforehand, it makes you squirm in your shoes, but when you've just got it face to face, it seems so obvious that you forget to be afraid. It's one of my principles never to be impressed by a platitude.
Doctor.