"And you think," said Dean, "that some of these people have been and carried that old fellow away?" "Yes, my boy; that's exactly what I do think." "Well," said Mark musing, "I suppose we shall soon know. But we certainly don't want them here." CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. A DISCUSSION. "A mussy me, Mr Mark, sir, as my old mother used to say. Ah, and she would say it again, poor old soul, if she were alive--bless her--and could see her pretty little curly-headed darling out here in savage Africa. Nice little curly-headed darling, arn't I, Mr Mark, sir? `My beauty,' she used to call me, when she had made me cry by jigging the comb through my hair, as would always tie itself up into knots like a nigger's." "Why, it isn't curly now, Buck." "Not a bit, sir; been cut too many times to keep it short, and all the curl got cut off, ha, ha, ha!" And the big, burly fellow burst into a boisterous laugh. "Bless her old heart! She never could have thought that I should grow into a six-footer weighing seventeen stun. Little woman she was--a pretty little woman too," said Buck proudly. "Fancy her seeing me seventeen stun, and not a bit of fat about me! Ah, it's ram, sir--rum. Rum as the name of our old village where we used to live down in Essex. Chignal Smealey. Well, sir," continued the big driver, wiping his beaded forehead, "we have had a pretty good time of it, haven't we? And I mean to say that we are regular ship-shape. What do you think of it, sir?" "Oh, never mind what I think, Buck. I'll tell you what father said to the doctor." "Ah, do, sir." "He said all you men had worked splendidly." "Oh, come, that's nice, sir," said Buck, beaming. "And that he felt ashamed of having been so idle, doing nothing but look on." "Idle be sat upon, sir!" cried the bluff fellow. "Why, he's the boss. What's a boss got to do but give his orders? Oh, he hasn't been idle, and as for the doctor, why, he's never at rest. Look here, Mr Mark, sir; I have journeyed about the world a good deal, same as Dan Mann has. You know I was a sailor and made several voyages before I settled down at Natal and took to driving a twenty-four-in-hand. But in all my wanderings about I never did run up against such a one as the doctor. He seems to know everything. Why, he's the best shot I ever see. Peter Dance and Bob Bacon are pretty tidy with their guns. I have matched myself agin them more than once when I have been out with them to get something for the pot, and I used to think I could shoot, but they beat me. But that doctor, sir, could if he liked do more with his left hand than I could with my right. You said he used to teach you young gents at home?" "Yes, Buck; anything and everything." "I suppose so, sir. Greek and Latin and mathics, and all that sort of stuff." "Yes, Buck," said Mark, laughing. "All that sort of stuff."