Did you not
hear me speak to him, afterwards?"
"No. I was so busy, and so fearfully hot with this padded thing, it
was as much as I could do to attend to what they said to me. A white
man, did you say? Oh, Dick!"
And as the idea struck him, he rose to his feet in his excitement.
"Do you think--do you really think he can be your father?"
"I do think so, Surajah. Of course, I did not recognise his face. Nine
years must have changed him greatly, and he has a long beard. But he
is about the right age, and, I should say, about the same figure; and
he has certainly been a sailor, for he said, to one of the soldiers,
that he would give that pound of tobacco for a couple of pipes of
pigtail, which is the tobacco sailors smoke. I told him that, perhaps,
I might be able to find him some in my packs, and asked him to come
here at eight o'clock this evening. If I was not in, then, he was to
come the first thing tomorrow morning; but of course I shall be in at
eight. You must make some excuse to the ladies. Say that there are
some goods you wish to show them, in one of the other packs, and ask
me to go and look for it."
"Oh, Dick, only to think that, after all our searching, we seem to
have come on him at last! It is almost too good to be true.
Pages:
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504