"'Tis my nature to, dear boy; but I say, load my gun while you're at it."

"What for, if you're not going to shoot?"

"Perhaps I am, boy. Anyhow, I'll be ready. I've been thinking."

"Sleeping, you mean."

"No, I don't. Thinking with my eyes shut."

"Well, what have you been thinking?"

"I've been thinking that we're a pair of jolly fools."

"Of course; but why?"

"To trust ourselves with these cut-throat scoundrels of Malays. Each one has his horrible wavy kris tucked in the folds of his sarong."

"Pooh! What of that? Custom of the country."