"Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family
of lions single-handed. The odds were too long. I have been lame ever
since, and shall be to my dying day; in the month of March the wound
always troubles me a great deal, and every three years it breaks out
raw.

"I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of ivory at Sikukuni's.
Another man got it--a German--and made five hundred pounds out of it
after paying expenses. I spent the month on the broad of my back, and
was a cripple for six months after that. And now I've told you the yarn,
so I will have a drop of Hollands and go to bed. Good-night to you all,
good-night!"