heat as this. However, we have a good supply of quinine on board,
and with that and our allowance of spirits, I hope that we shan't,
as Morrison says, have half the ship's company down with the fever.
It is all in our favor that we have only just come out, for they
say that newcomers can resist the effects of these tropical rivers
much better than those whose constitution has been weakened by
a residence in the country. As to the sport, I have no desire to
kill any animal that does not meddle with me. My business is all
the other way, and if any of you get mauled, I will do my best to
help the doctor to pull you through; but I am very well on board
the ship, and have no desire to go tramping about among the swamps,
whether it be to hunt animals or fight Malays."

"You think that everyone should stick to his last, Sandy," Dick
said with a laugh. "Well, I only wish there were more on board of
your opinion, for that would give more chances to us who like to
stretch our legs ashore for a change."

"I can stretch my legs here if I want to," the Scotchman said
quietly, "and am not anxious to do more. I suppose, if there are
expeditions against the Malays, I shall have to go with them; but
the fewer of them there are the better I shall be pleased."

The talk was more serious aft, where the doctor and first lieutenant
were dining with the captain. It ended by the latter saying, "Well,
Doctor, if what your friend Hassan said be true, we are likely
enough to have our hands pretty full, and shall have to watch this
fellow Sehi as sharply as we do his neighbors. He is not under
our protection yet, and if he sends his prahus down the river to
plunder on the coast, as Hassan says, he is not the sort of character