That
chance has slipped from them. But when we--I say 'we' you see,
Margaret--meet them, it will be a desperate struggle, indeed."
"We shall thrash them, Uncle," Dick broke in. "You will see that we
shall beat them thoroughly."
The Rajah smiled at Dick's impetuosity.
"So you think English soldiers cannot be beaten, eh?"
"Well, Uncle, somehow they never do get beaten. I don't know how it
is. I suppose that it is just obstinacy. Look how we thrashed the
French here, and they were just as well drilled as our soldiers, and
there were twice as many of them."
The Rajah nodded.
"One secret of our success, Dick, is that the English get on better
with the natives here than the French do--I don't know why, except
what I have heard from people who went through the war. They say that
the French always seemed to look down on the natives, and treated even
powerful allies with a sort of haughtiness that irritated them, and
made them ready to change sides at the first opportunity; while the
British treated them pleasantly, so that there was a real friendship
between them."
Dick, finding that the conversation now turned to the time when his
mother and uncle were girl and boy together, left them and went
downstairs.
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