"They don't call it Pekin over there," he said. "It's
sounded Pei-Chang."

"I know," I said, "it's the same way with Poughkeepsie,
they pronounce it P'Keepsie."

"The Chinese," he went on musingly, "are a strange people."

"So are the people in P'Keepsie," I added, "awfully
strange."

That kind of retort would sometimes stop him, but not
always. He was especially dangerous if he was found with
a newspaper in his hand; because that meant that some
item of foreign intelligence had gone to his brain.

Not that I should have objected to Yarner describing his
travels. Any man who has bought a ticket round the world
and paid for it, is entitled to that.

But it was his manner of discussion that I considered
unpermissible.

Last week, for example, in an unguarded moment I fell a
victim. I had been guilty of the imprudence--I forget in
what connection--of speaking of lions. I realized at
once that I had done wrong--lions, giraffes, elephants,
rickshaws and natives of all brands, are topics to avoid
in talking with a traveller.